Super Bowl 2024 has come and gone and this year, and there's a good chance you used a streaming service or cable alternative to watch the big game. And if you used Paramount Plus, there's a chance that Jake Moody's missed PAT isn't the only thing that caused you to yell out the TV.
That's because a lot of people reported having issues with Paramount Plus live-streaming the Super Bowl. Sean Keeley from Awful Announcing even reported that they gave up on watching the game on their TV because of Paramount Plus, opting to watch the rest of the Chief's victory on a laptop — though that still managed to have a fair amount of issues.
And they weren't alone. A basic search on Twitter (X) produced plenty of complaints of buffering issues, glitches and more problems that rendered the game unwatchable.
Unfortunately, I have bad news. This, while disappointing, shouldn't necessarily be a shock. By the very nature of bandwidth concerns, server requirements and other aspects of the very technical side of streaming live sports, these Super Bowl woes are just further evidence that cord-cutting isn't necessarily the optimal way to watch live sports.
Paramount Plus isn't alone in streaming struggles
While Paramount Plus didn't exactly cover itself in glory based on the online outcry, it's not alone in having streaming issues. Just about every streaming service or cable TV alternative suffers from outages or transmission issues at some point or another, several of which we've reported on in the past.
This is the fifth year we’ve conducted our Super Bowl latency study, and unfortunately nothing has changed - the industry has yet to catch up with consumer demand to provide a real-time experience.
Roy Reichbach, CEO of Phenix
And that's not even the only concern — you also need to account for lag time. Phenix, a company that focuses on "delivering interactive video" provided us with some streaming lag time data and the results are eyebrow-raising, even though streaming services lagging behind live events is a relatively well-known fact at this point.
Shockingly, Paramount Plus was one of the better cord-cutting options when it came to lag times, though that's small consolation for those who couldn't even get the service to work. It had a lag time of just 42.76 seconds, well ahead of me watching on YouTube TV (55.54 seconds) or even watching on cable, which suffered delays ranging from 50.40 to 79.92 seconds behind real-time.
For his part, Phenix CEO Roy Reichbach doesn't think you should expect streaming to get noticeably better when it comes to lag in live sports streaming. "This is the fifth year we’ve conducted our Super Bowl latency study, and unfortunately nothing has changed - the industry has yet to catch up with consumer demand to provide a real-time experience."
Solution — buy a TV antenna for live sports
Cord-cutters shouldn't start searching for local cable providers just yet — though Verizon Fios and its mere 29-second lag time is intriguing. As someone who is a cord cutter, I greatly prefer my experience with YouTube TV to my past experiences with cable and Fios. Between the price, features like multiview and catching up to live with key plays, there's a lot to like about using the cable alternative even with lag times and occasional streaming issues.
Besides, for at least some games, there is a workaround for cord-cutters to ensure you don't suffer from lag times — buy a TV antenna for live sports.
Even if the problems with streaming sports will always be there — and they will — I'd rather have the benefits of a streaming service or cable alternative than have cable and still suffer from lag time.
Yes, those antennas that you thought were gone the way of the dodo? They're still around, and you can get them for indoors or outdoors. The newer models look a bit sleeker than their predecessors, to say the least, though they're not necessarily cheap. Our top-rated TV antenna, the Mohu Leaf Supreme Pro, will set you back $69.
Still, these antennas are growing in popularity for watching games that are broadcast over the air like the Super Bowl. According to Phenix CFO Jed Corenthal, these antennas are "making a comeback in 2024" as people get sick of the lag time and issues inherent in streaming live sports.
So if you're a cord-cutter and this Super Bowl has you ready to consider cable again, consider an antenna first. I personally am fine with how using a cable alternative has been for me but I'd gladly pay up for a TV antenna before going back to cable TV. Even if the problems with streaming sports will always be there — and they will — I'd rather have the benefits of a streaming service or cable alternative than have cable and still suffer from lag time.
