With 1.3 million concurrent viewers for much of the premiere, the latest episode of Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast with superstar guest Taylor Swift was a rare monoculture moment.
Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly go off without a hitch for the platform hosting the premiere, YouTube. About one hour and 45 minutes into the episode’s debut, the YouTube stream abruptly ended, leaving over a million fans temporarily confused. Arguably the biggest podcast premiere in the history of the medium was marred by a technical glitch.
Fairly or unfairly, that has now raised questions about YouTube’s ability to stream its first-ever NFL game broadcast in less than one month’s time. During the offseason, YouTube struck a deal with the NFL to exclusively broadcast the Kansas City Chiefs-Los Angeles Chargers game on Friday, Sept. 5 from São Paulo, Brazil. The game will serve as both a dry run and a testing ground for YouTube as it explores becoming a larger NFL partner during the next round of media rights negotiations in a few years.
Curious where this technical issue came from, since YouTube will air an actual NFL game in a few weeks with a much bigger audience. https://t.co/EhPkkopwUD
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) August 14, 2025
Priority number one for any streamer getting into business with the NFL is making sure fans are able to seamlessly watch a game without technical difficulties. That was the big question posed to Amazon’s Prime Video when it took over exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football in 2022.
More recently, it is a challenge that Netflix had to overcome before the streamer made its NFL debut with a Christmas Day doubleheader last season. Prior to those two games, Netflix had struggled from a technical standpoint to livestream popular events including the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight, and a live finale of the popular reality show Love is Blind before that.
It’s unclear exactly what happened on Wednesday night to cause YouTube’s issue with New Heights. 1.3 million concurrent viewers is certainly a lot, but likely isn’t nearly enough to make a dent in YouTube’s streaming capabilities from a pure volume perspective. YouTube is the most widely viewed platform in the country and has no doubt handled audiences of similar size in the past.
However, 1.3 million viewers still pales in comparison to what the platform will likely get for its NFL broadcast, which could easily eclipse 10 million concurrent viewers, if not many more. The quickest way to fall out of the NFL’s good graces would be to have a technical glitch occur mid-game similar to what happened on New Heights.
So far, every streamer to broadcast an exclusive NFL game has aced the test from a technical standpoint. Prime Video, Peacock, and Netflix have all streamed prominent exclusive games without a hitch. Given the scale of YouTube as a platform, it’s fair to assume it will ace the test too. But Wednesday night’s incident has given fans a tinge of worry regardless.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.