Google set to kick off NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube this weekend

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has ventured into the world of sports streaming by bringing the NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV, providing fans across the United States access to out-of-market games.

Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Alexandra Canal reports that the season opener will be available on both Peacock and NBC, highlighting the trend of streamers exclusively airing NFL games. This list includes giants like Peacock, Amazon (AMZN), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and ESPN+. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has emphasized his intent to expand the reach of the NFL, which will in return help streaming services and networks to increase engagement on their platforms.

Yahoo Finance Reporter Josh Schafer explains while the NFL is protective of its media rights, companies have began to invest. Amazon's $1 billion deal for one game a week is already making waves, with potential benefits for both the NFL and Amazon in expanding their consumer base.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Streaming giants are also betting big on sports. Google entering the field this season with NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. The service allows fans from across the US to access all out-of-market games. With more, we're joined by Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer and Allie Canal to talk us through what the streamers are looking for. So, Allie, I'll start with you. You know, always this is obviously very lucrative and these are hotly contested contracts. What do we need to know?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Well, I think we're seeing this transition to streaming even with the home opener tonight, right? I mean, it's technically considered a Sunday Night Football game on the schedule since it is the season opener. And that is going to be aired on NBC but also simultaneously on Peacock. And we're seeing more and more that it's not just the simulcast but also more streamers that will be airing these games exclusively.

Later in the season, we'll have exclusive streaming games on Peacock, ESPN+, and Amazon. This has been a big push from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He's been very focused on making sure that the reach of the NFL can get to as many people as possible.

So while the NFL has been very focused on eyeballs, these streaming giants really want to increase engagement and that stickiness on the platform. And it's not just with the NFL, I think sports at large has been a big focus point. You know, we heard David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery, he's consistently teased a live sports element on the Max platform.

Bloomberg is reporting that will be free to Max subscribers in the next few months. And then come February, March on the heels of March Madness, you're going to have to pay up for that. But live sports, live news, that creates a stickiness that I think all of these streaming giants really want, especially as competition escalates. And on top of that, you have the Hollywood writers strike. So you're not having any scripted content. So live sports, that could be considered some of the best reality TV you can find.

BRAD SMITH: But, Josh, they're being judicious about the costs here too?

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, no, they are. And I think that's something that sort of comes to mind here when you think about who was initially in play for this NFL Sunday Ticket deal. And if not fully out there, exactly what happened? But there was a long period of time where people thought Apple was going to have NFL Sunday Ticket that Alphabet now has with YouTube TV.

And it seemed like from some reporting that was out there on the discussions, part of what happened was Apple didn't necessarily want the deal that the NFL provides because the NFL doesn't provide all access, right? The NFL is very protective over their media rights. And Apple is normally not like that. Apple likes to control everything. And they like to control the content.

And so you see a little bit of a difference there between how Apple, which is used to dominating its tech space and dominating its space, versus how the NFL operates, I found interesting. And also just $2 billion is a massive deal, even if you are Alphabet or Apple.

Yes, they make a lot of money, but that is a big investment. And I think you're going to see some of these tech companies think, OK, I wanna get in. I wanna see what it's like. I wanna do it. But do I want to spend $2 billion? I don't know. I mean, we're only a year into the Amazon deal, right? So it's probably too early to tell how that billion dollars for one game a week is really working out.

BRAD SMITH: Is the NFL so protective over meteorites because of all of the different types of productions that they envision being able to monetize? You think about the different documentaries that have come out. "Quarterbacks" was very successful for Netflix. And so now they're looking across the broader spectrum of what could be produced and how they could specifically line up different distributors to that.

JOSH SCHAFER: To me, the one thing the NFL has been great at amid this media rush we have seen is they stay across different platforms. So you don't get pigeonholed into one platform and then get dictated by how that platform wants to make content and also only be on one platform so you can only be seen by their subscribers.

What if the service isn't that great, right? Or they end up having problems? The NFL has gone wide. And the NFL has really shown no interest in not going wide, right? They're on ESPN. They're on CBS. They're on Fox. They're on NBC. They're now on Amazon.

That's clearly intentional by Roger Goodell and the NFL to be on multiple networks and not merge with, say, ESPN, like some of the leagues have reportedly been interested in talking with ESPN and Bob Iger and Disney, right? That doesn't seem like it's been the NFL strategy. They sorta wanna go wide alley and expose themselves to more streamers.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Right, which can get confusing if you're a consumer, especially as someone like me who loves the NFL. But sometimes it can get tricky to know which network, which streaming service now is airing what? But, you know, when we were talking about how expensive these rights are, I also think a big sticking point that's convincing a lot of these tech giants to get on board and spend those high amounts is the fact that they can advertise and monetize in that way because at the end of the day, the NFL commands a lot of viewers.

If you take a look at the Nielsen top 100 most-watched TV broadcasts of last year, 88 were NFL games, 23 of the top 25. So this is a behemoth that really attracts so many people and that's very appealing to advertisers. And therefore, it can command a lot of money.

JOSH SCHAFER: And the other thing with that too that's been interesting that I think a lot of the street analysts point to is getting people in the ecosystem, like the Amazon play for a lot of people, they'll say, has never been about getting more people on Prime Video necessarily. It's about getting people to use Amazon Prime, right? They want you to go on to be an Amazon Prime subscriber.

BRAD SMITH: They Shop so much.

JOSH SCHAFER: And they shop or something. How are they going to-- right. How are they going to push Amazon Prime ads on those broadcasts? That's the Amazon play.

BRAD SMITH: Well, they haven't gotten me yet. Thank you, Josh. Thanks so much for joining us to help us break this down. A lot of the--

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Go Birds.

BRAD SMITH: Go Birds. Yes, 100%.

JOSH SCHAFER: I'll Go Birds.

BRAD SMITH: What?

JOSH SCHAFER: All right.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Get it out there.

BRAD SMITH: I'll actually be playing you guys.

JULIE HYMAN: Everything, except football.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: There you go.

BRAD SMITH: Ravens. There you go, Baltimore fan, Ravens out here. You bleed purple.

JULIE HYMAN: I don't remember the last time I watched a-- I watched the Super Bowl last year.

BRAD SMITH: There you go.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Eagles ran that.

BRAD SMITH: Eagles ran that.

JULIE HYMAN: I didn't even remember that.

BRAD SMITH: Well, Eagles Patriots, guess we got a great match-up coming up to kick off the season here.