NFL Sunday Ticket Getting Many New Features When it Moves to YouTube
The NFL Sunday Ticket is moving from its long-time home of DirecTV to YouTube this fall, and fans can expect plenty of new and interactive features set to enhance their viewing experience.
During a fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said, “We think there are a lot of great opportunities to differentiate the user and creator experience with our unique capabilities.” (via Deadline).
“Every YouTube viewer who’s interested in the NFL can now have one-click access to the full offering of Sunday Ticket,” he continued. “This will be the first time that Sunday Ticket is available à la carte for fans.”
The new package will let viewers watch every NFL game on Sundays instead of just the local games on broadcast TV and will be available as a separately priced add-on to YouTube TV subscribers and on the recently launched YouTube Primetime Channels.
Schindler also hinted at a picture-in-picture component, allowing viewers to surf around games of their choice.
“On YouTube TV, we’re building the ability for subscribers to, for example, watch multiple screens at once, and on YouTube [connected TV] we’ll be adding new features specific to the Sunday Ticket experience, like comments, chats, polls, and so on,” he explained.
He also spoke about the advantages on “the creator side,” suggesting exclusive content, such as behind-the-scenes event access. “We’re really excited to see what they will do across long-form, short form, livestreams and more,” he added.
The move to YouTube continues the NFL’s venture into streaming, following Thursday Night Football‘s arrival on Amazon’s Prime Video last fall, which is part of an 11-year exclusive agreement.
