YouTube’s $14 billion deal (£11.6bn) to stream National Football League (NFL) games marks the latest foray by a Silicon Valley giant into territory traditionally dominated by broadcasters and pay-TV companies, as live sports becomes the latest battleground for the audiences and profits promised by the streaming revolution.
Google-owned YouTube’s seven-year deal, which will see the world’s biggest video platform take over the “Sunday Ticket” package of games that US satellite service DirecTV has had since 1994, followed an auction that included strong interest from its fellow major tech-technicians company Apple.
The deal is the latest in a string of commercially eye-catching deals by the NFL, the most expensive live sports rights in the world, following their 11-year, $113 billion deals. $ that was made with broadcast partners last year, with Amazon getting $1 billion. value of games annually.
The appetite YouTube is showing, cementing another stratospheric rise in rights value for the NFL, will cheer Premier League bosses in the hope that a new major user will reignite the lucrative bidding wars for British rights that marked the last decade.
While the Premier League almost doubled the value of the US rights in a £2bn deal last year with NBC, which mostly broadcasts matches on its streaming service, Peacock, bosses were forced to roll over a deal with existing UK partners to avoid losing potentially hundreds of millions of pounds in an auction that lacks new competition .
Apart from Sky and BT, the only new player to buy Premier League rights in the UK in recent years has been Amazon, although the Prime Video owner has not attempted a knockout bid.
While YouTube TV and the recently launched YouTube Primetime Channels, an aggregator of third-party subscription services such as Showtime and Starz similar to Amazon’s offerings, are US-focused, the prospect of $1.2 billion parent Google now looms large over international sports agreements.
“The threat of Google’s free capital entering the rights market is clearly good news for rights sellers around the world, including the Premier League,” said Peter Hutton, the former head of sports at Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
While the global streaming wars have mostly focused on the hundreds of billions spent on TV shows and movies in the battle for subscribers, traditional broadcasters from Sky and ITV to Comcast, Disney and Paramount in the US have faced increasing competition for sports rights.
Pay TV and cable companies continue to experience budget cuts due to the relentless decline of subscribers turned off by the high prices of subscription TV packages.
Earlier this year, Comcast wrote $8.6 billion off the value of Sky less than four years after winning a £30 billion bidding war for Rupert Murdoch’s pan-European pay-TV empire.
Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, played on the organization’s move to embrace the younger viewers leading the so-called “cutting” of traditional TV in favor of streaming, describing the deal as a “new era … looking to the future and building “the next generation of NFL fans”.
Meanwhile, tech companies like Facebook and YouTube are diversifying their business models after reporting their first declines in the ad revenue they’ve been almost reliant on.
“This is an aggressive move to continue to take more market share from the cable TV operators,” Hutton says.
Earlier this year, Apple entered into an agreement worth DKK 2.5 billion. USD over 10 years to broadcast American Major League Soccer games, following an earlier deal with Major League Baseball for Friday games.
Meta has held sports rights in a number of international markets and previously bid for the highly popular Indian Premier League cricket rights in India.
Amazon continues to invest in a range of rights including tennis, rugby and Champions League football in countries including the UK, Germany and Italy.
Even Netflix, which has publicly steadfastly ruled out offering live sports, was revealed in November to have been eyeing rights including the ATP tennis tour, cycling and women’s tennis federations, as well as wanting to buy the World Surf League.
This year, the seemingly inexorable global streaming boom has come to an abrupt end, leading to a focus on cost and profitability, limiting huge budgets on content that could turn out to be expensive flops, and putting the security and predictability of fan loyalty to life . sports in the spotlight.
At the same time, Amazon, Disney and Netflix have also seen the huge success and viewer loyalty that sports-themed content, including series such as All or Nothing and Formula One: Drive to Survive, can bring.
“YouTube’s deal recognizes sport’s unique ability to bring a group of fans with it to any service, regardless of delivery technology,” Hutton said. “We’ve seen Warner Bros Discovery invest directly in the professional triathlete’s organization this week.
“I think we’ll see more of the broadcasters and streamers building equity positions in the sports industry where they can.”
NFL Sunday Ticket TV (for everyone) The To Go package features all live out-of-market games (even those you can’t see on local TV) every Sunday afternoon during the regular season. It costs $73.49 per month for 4 months, or a single payment of $293.96.
Where can I watch NFL on Fox?
Download the FOX Sports app using one of the following devices: This may interest you : Biqtch Puddin’ on video games, messing with the genre, and surviving bullies.
- Android (app v5.1 and Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) or later)
- iOS (app v5.1 and iOS 12 or later)
- Apple TV (app v3.25 and Gen 4 or later)
- Roku (app v3.24 and Roku OS 9 and later)
- Fire TV (app v3.25 and later)
- Android TV (app v3.25 and later)
What channel is Fox NFL on?
Are NFL games on FOX or FOX Sports?
NFL on Fox (also known as Fox NFL) is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports and televised on the Fox broadcast network.
What streaming service has FOX football games?
Fans can also stream local Fox NFL games on NFL Plus, but only via a mobile phone or tablet. See the article : Governor Kelly says Kansas sports betting is off to a strong start.
Is Sunday Night Football on free Peacock?
If you don’t have access to NBC through your TV provider, you can stream Sunday Night Football on Peacock with a $4.99/month Peacock Premium plan. To see also : What a major new US law reshaping science agencies could mean for researchers. Sign up here or, if you already have a free Peacock account, go to your account settings to upgrade or change your existing plan.
What network will Sunday Night Football be on in 2022? Welcome to the home of NFL Sunday Night Football. NBC will stream all SNF games live online for the 2022 NFL season on Peacock, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App.
Where can I watch Sunday Night Football for free?
Watch Sunday Night Football Live Free Watch all of NBC’s coverage of Sunday Night Football by watching with an antenna. AntennaWeb is a great tool you can use to see what NBC channel is available in your area with an antenna.
Does Peacock have NFL for free?
NBC’s streaming service will give you access to numerous games, including all Sunday night matchups. You can get a seven-day free trial followed by a monthly fee of $5 or $10. (The free version of Peacock does not include live sports.)
Are any NFL games on ABC?
Since 2021, under the branding ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC, ABC simulcasts and telecasts exclusively select Monday Night Football games, two Saturday games in Week 18, a Wild Card playoff game and the Pro Bowl with ESPN. In 2027 and 2031, ABC will broadcast the Super Bowl.
How can I watch football on ABC? Watch the ABC app from your smartphone and tablet (iOS and Android), computer on ABC.com and connected devices (Roku, AppleTV and Amazon Fire TV). See the lineup for every bowl game streaming on ABC!
Is Monday Night Football on ABC or just ESPN?
The Packers and Rams play on Monday, followed by the Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 26. Most of the aforementioned games will be broadcast on ESPN, EPSN2 and ESPN Deportes, but a few of the scheduled games will also be shown on ABC. See the full 2022 MNF schedule here.
Why isn t the football game on ABC?
ABC continued to air Monday Night Football until 2005, when parent company Disney decided to switch it over to their primary sports channel, ESPN. The game has remained on ESPN to this day, although there are now many online streaming options that allow you to watch the game.
