Younger fans are following sport in a fundamentally different way, he said, following individuals rather than teams and watching highlights clips on social media.
This is forcing the broadcaster to adapt to stay relevant.
A new series launched last year, named Scenes, gives social media influencers behind-the-scenes access to major sport stars.
Rapper Stormzy has also appeared on Monday Night Football alongside Roy Keane and Gary Neville, while earlier this month he was interviewed by Martin Brundle at the British Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Sky Sports Editions, which is aimed at a female audience, shines a spotlight on stars in women’s sport – essentially a cover shoot in broadcast format.
Mr Licht said: “We are going and taking our brand into places where we historically wouldn’t have done.
“We’re going in and offering these really relevant experiences to different audiences as a way to broaden their engagement and bring them back to Sky Sports and a subscription relationship.”
In a further defensive move, the broadcaster will in August launch a new streaming service, dubbed Sky Sports+, that will allow it to simultaneously show up to 100 events across sport including football, tennis and golf.
The launch has been timed to coincide with the start of the new football season after the broadcaster signed a record £935m deal with the English Football League to show more than 1,000 matches per season.
But while Mr Licht was upbeat about sport’s appeal to younger audiences, he knew he headed up just one part of a media and entertainment behemoth that has been upended by an industry in flux.
In January, Sky announced plans to cut roughly 1,000 jobs as it adapts to the decline of its traditional satellite business and the shift to streaming.