Sunday was a huge day for football fans as YouTube TV took over for DirecTV as the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket. The NFL awarded the rights to out-of-market games to the streaming platform for a reported $2 billion per year for seven years. It’s the first time the package moved away from DirecTV since its founding in 1994.
Approaching the service’s debut on the platform there were numerous questions about how the transition from satellite to streaming would go. Would there be latency and delay issues? Would fans be able to watch more than one game at a time? Would there be any technical difficulties as we’ve seen with some other streamers who have tried big, live productions?
Through the first wave of 1 PM E.T. NFL games on the opening Sunday of the season, the reviews are in for Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV and most have found it a resounding success.
Probably the biggest feature that YouTube TV has rolled out is multiview – where fans can watch up to four games at once on their home screen. There are a couple of caveats with that—the multiviews are curated by YouTube TV itself. So if you’d like to pick your own set of four games, that feature is not available just yet. Additionally, it’s only available on smart TVs or streaming devices, not on the web.
However, the mix of games is fairly robust. Most include options alongside NFL RedZone, which is great if you want to watch your favorite team play while also having an option right on your screen to flip to while it’s in a commercial.
Also, @youtube multiview is SUPERIOR to DirecTV game mix because YouTube eliminated all the clutter and wasted space on the screen. Beautiful presentation by YouTube.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 10, 2023
Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV is already significantly better than DirecTV.
The video quality is better and the 4-game multi-view is an awesome edition.
Now let us pick the game combinations ourselves and it’ll be a home run.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) September 10, 2023
It’s amazing. I never expected this. In love. pic.twitter.com/w96QktZDWN
— WFANTrades (@WFANTrades) September 10, 2023
Zero issues outside of wishing we could pick games for quad box.
— Mike Lupole (@MLupole) September 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/jaredwv/status/1700971594649047214
Importantly for those with a little action on the games, the delay factor for streams was a concern heading into the YouTube era. However, those concerns were mostly allayed. Delays were minimal (except RedZone seemed to be a play behind if it were showing highlights of the game you were watching) and the streaming quality was superb.
Top notch work moving NFL Sunday Ticket over. Truly.
EXQUISITE WORK, Y'ALL.
No hassles AT ALL. Logging in has been easy, no delays, no weird "verify your current playback area" messages." Nothing like that in the slightest.
— Sean Orleans, Noted Raconteur (@SeanOrleans) September 10, 2023
NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube not showing the kind of delay that many feared. So far.
— Matt Infante (@MattInfante) September 10, 2023
No complaints on my end about Sunday Ticket on YouTube. Didn’t feel like there was any delay
— Jonwell Tarly (@Fullywrecked) September 10, 2023
so far so good with Sunday Ticket on youtube
Been easy to switch between my main game and Red Zone
excellent pic quality too
— Parris (@vicious696) September 10, 2023
I gotta say, I'm fairly impressed with the quality of the stream on YouTube for NFL Sunday Ticket. Great definition, no lag.
— Ham and Mayonnaise Sammiches (@AndSammiches) September 10, 2023
Overall, former player and analyst Steve Smith speaks for a lot of people in saying that Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV is a roaring success.
https://twitter.com/SteveSmithSr89/status/1700938774476149147
Hopefully, no issues emerge through the season and a customizable multiview option emerges, but other than that there’s not too much fans can ask for from Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV.
