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Prompted by an uptick in users during the coronavirus pandemic, YouTube’s EMEA head of sport, Tomos Grace, has confirmed the Google-owned platform is targeting more live sports broadcasts.
In recent years, BT Sport, Uefa’s UK broadcast partner for the Champions League, has used YouTube to air the elite European club soccer tournament’s final, while the National Basketball Association (NBA) has streamed its finals series on the platform as part of its presenting partnership deal.
The 2019 Champions League final stream accounted for 4.8 million of the British pay-TV broadcaster’s 11.3 million viewers tuning in via digital platforms.
With the likes of the National Football League (NFL), world soccer’s governing body Fifa and the Formula One motorsport series seeing success in using the platform to rebroadcast archive footage or air live esports content, YouTube is hoping to expand its efforts in that area.
Grace told Sportcal: “We have seen an increase in the use of a live platform by sports organisations and who knows where that will take us? We would like to do a lot more live partnerships with sports organisations, broadcasters, leagues and clubs. We do a lot now but we would like to do more.”
Adding: “There are a number of different examples of partners who are doing the full-length archive games and then a number of different ways that you can present it, and there is a lot of innovation in that area as well and there is definitely significantly more interest in that kind of content.
“The viewership numbers that we are seeing are much higher. The number of opportunities to watch it is also significantly greater and much broader than it used to be. It is not just soccer, it is also rugby and tennis. Broadcasters are doing it, so are the IOC and Fifa. It is a rich offer and the viewership is obviously higher.”
YouTube’s EMEA head of sport, Tomos Grace, has confirmed the Google-owned platform is targeting more live sports broadcasts
Prompted by an uptick in users during the coronavirus pandemic, YouTube’s EMEA head of sport, Tomos Grace, has confirmed the Google-owned platform is targeting more live sports broadcasts.
In recent years, BT Sport, Uefa’s UK broadcast partner for the Champions League, has used YouTube to air the elite European club soccer tournament’s final, while the National Basketball Association (NBA) has streamed its finals series on the platform as part of its presenting partnership deal.
The 2019 Champions League final stream accounted for 4.8 million of the British pay-TV broadcaster’s 11.3 million viewers tuning in via digital platforms.
With the likes of the National Football League (NFL), world soccer’s governing body Fifa and the Formula One motorsport series seeing success in using the platform to rebroadcast archive footage or air live esports content, YouTube is hoping to expand its efforts in that area.
Grace told Sportcal: “We have seen an increase in the use of a live platform by sports organisations and who knows where that will take us? We would like to do a lot more live partnerships with sports organisations, broadcasters, leagues and clubs. We do a lot now but we would like to do more.”
Adding: “There are a number of different examples of partners who are doing the full-length archive games and then a number of different ways that you can present it, and there is a lot of innovation in that area as well and there is definitely significantly more interest in that kind of content.
“The viewership numbers that we are seeing are much higher. The number of opportunities to watch it is also significantly greater and much broader than it used to be. It is not just soccer, it is also rugby and tennis. Broadcasters are doing it, so are the IOC and Fifa. It is a rich offer and the viewership is obviously higher.”
