Yahoo has entered a new partnership with the NHL that’s going to bring more hockey content to fans.

Reuters reports Yahoo will provide four free games a week (barring local team), highlights and more content for free on Yahoo Sports and on its Tumblr page, starting with Friday’s match between the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The big push on Yahoo’s behalf seems to be helping advertisers reaching millennials, as more and more young viewers are unsurprisingly choosing streaming over television. This isn’t the first time Yahoo has gotten into the streaming game, as they live streamed an NFL match played in London and received roughly 15.2 million unique viewers. Yahoo has since secured streaming deals with Major League Baseball, The PGA and eSports competitions. They’re hoping to build on the success of that stream, as it’s growing as a digital hub of live sports.

“This alliance brings us one step closer to providing fans a live professional sporting event every day, on Yahoo, completely frictionless and for free — no cable subscription or authentication required,” said Phil Lynch, vice president, Media Partnerships at Yahoo. “We remain committed to delivering the best digital content to our users and advertisers, and the NHL’s premium content nicely complements our offering of live and on-demand partner content, including Yahoo/MLB’s Game of the Day, Yahoo/NBC Sports content and our recently announced deal with the PGA Tour.”

Making the service free is a smart move, as it will draw in more fans, which in turn will give Yahoo stronger numbers for advertisers. Hockey won’t bring in amazing numbers, but it’s a great start for Yahoo.

There is some bad news for Canadian fans, as TheWrap reports the deal only is available to those in the United States, as the NHL’s deal with Rogers likely prohibits any streaming north of the border.

Yahoo has experienced some turbulence in recent months but by further pursuing the streaming market they’ve made a smart attempt at turning around their fate.

About Liam McGuire

Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com

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