“Sunday Ticket is definitely the golden prize in sports streaming. It draws more than anything else…It does it in a way that follows the sort of migratory patterns that sports fans are increasingly following today,” Rachel Nichols, a sports broadcaster with Showtime and a longtime host at ESPN, told IndieWire. “The fact that YouTube got it says a lot about where they stand.”
In Sunday Ticket, which allows fans to watch every out-of-network football game on Sunday afternoons, YouTube wins a huge influx of eyeballs that can bolster both YouTube TV as an add-on package and its newly launched subscription business Primetime Channels as soon as the 2023 NFL season kicks off. DirecTV, which has held the rights since 1994 in a deal that expires after the 2022 season, has 1.5 million subscribers to Sunday Ticket paying at least $300 a year. It’s long been a key differentiator in the pay-TV battle, but parent company AT&T, as far back as 2019, felt the subscription’s value to the service had peaked as more people cut the cord. As analyst Bruce Leichtman of Leichtman Research explains, the marriage between DirecTV and the NFL was never about subscribers but about exclusivity. For years, NFL Sunday Ticket never climbed above 2 million subscribers, and DirecTV called it a “zero margin” product. Even though a shift to YouTube will, in theory, make Sunday Ticket more accessible, Leichtman doesn’t expect Sunday Ticket to become much more than a niche subscription suddenly growing to tens of millions of subscribers. But that won’t stop YouTube from reaping the benefits. “Sunday Ticket is image more than it is revenue. It helped differentiate DirecTV from Dish. It was the sexy product. It was the sports product, even though under 10 percent of their subscribers ever got it,” Leichtman said. “They can spend something like this as a bit of an experiment to see what it does for YouTube and see how it distinguishes YouTube TV, if that is the goal.”
NFL also extended its carriage agreement with YouTube TV for NFL Network and NFL RedZone, the latter of which is a good alternative for the displaced fans and fantasy football junkies who don’t necessarily need every minute of every game that Sunday Ticket provides. And despite some prior reports that this deal could also include rights to a stake in other NFL media, this is a traditional license deal, but the individual added talks and exploration involving NFL media is ongoing. YouTube TV has the added perk of allowing viewers to comment in real-time, something that’s been a nifty feature when MLB games stream for free via YouTube. “Interactivity in TV, especially live content, is becoming very popular,” Elizabeth Parks, president and CMO of Parks Associates, told IndieWire. “Many video viewers now have tried co-viewing, and there will be a substantial increase in the interaction specific to leagues, players, specific teams — all of this drives additional revenue streams and partnerships.” “It also allows Sunday Ticket that premium ticket proposition to reach an incredibly broader opportunity. It’s a near-term deal, but with many long-term strategy benefits,” Erickson said. “If we really want to expand that audience, really expand how many eyeballs…that is a huge amount of bang for the buck to wind up with Google, advertising, streaming properties, all the devices they’re on in some way.”
Brent Lawton, the NFL’s VP, Media Strategy and Business Development, was made available to press on Thursday and said that the NFL already has 10 million subscribers on its YouTube channel and expects that with YouTube’s massive reach that having Sunday Ticket available will continue to drive awareness to their brand. YouTube’s younger skewing demographic didn’t hurt either, and Lawton says the NFL’s decision was based on which platform would be the most fan-friendly and accessible based on where their fans already are. One wrinkle that’s still unsettled are the commercial subscribers to Sunday Ticket, namely the bars and restaurants of the world. Lawton told IndieWire those rights have a separate process from the ones YouTube acquired, though YouTube is involved in the conversations about how to continue servicing those subscribers. That base of subscribers is significant, as Leichtman said commercial subscribers were as many as a third of DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket users, and that group even provided more revenue to DirecTV than the Average Joes. Leichtman feels if a deal were worked out, it could also be an untapped opportunity for Google to get into commercial accounts. Leichtman is also “perplexed” by the detail that Google will offer Sunday Ticket as an add-on via YouTube TV as well as a la carte via its Premium Channels offering. No pricing details about either offering were unveiled with the announcement, and pricing will be up to YouTube rather than the NFL. While Leichtman says it could cause some confusion for consumers in the short term, as Sunday Ticket has traditionally always been tethered to a DirecTV account, Lawton said offering it in both ways was done to make sure “that Sunday Ticket is as available as possible.” Those who have pay TV will have access to every NFL game, but Lawton acknowledged not every user is going to switch to a vMVPD. “There’s a path for them,” Lawton said. “If you want to keep what you’re doing and stick to linear, there’s a path for you there too. We’re trying to make it as accommodating and broad base as possible.” Icon Sportswire via Getty Images For what it’s worth, Apple TV+ got as close as the 1-yard line before finally punting. Apple had long been reported to be the frontrunner to land Sunday Ticket, but Puck first reported last week that it ended negotiations, opening the door for Google to swoop in. What Apple would’ve gotten from Sunday Ticket is not the same as its deal with Major League Soccer, a $2.5 billion deal that nets exclusive rights to all MLS games that can be accessed internationally and offered on top of an Apple TV+ subscription. In that sense, Leichtman says there’s a chance it could even have been the NFL that balked.
“It’s not imperative for the NFL how many people subscribe to this,” Leichtman said. “They make more money from their broadcast cable relationships, they’re trying to create a win-win relationship, and perhaps some of the things they wanted, Apple couldn’t do.” That leaves YouTube and the NFL, which is the furthest thing from a consolation prize. But what both parties realize is that giving younger viewers access to more live games without added hoops to jump through will be key to keeping fans engaged. “Anyone under 30, when you ask them about their favorites in sports, they’re almost always players outside of their home market,” Nichols said. “People follow players wherever they go. The same thing happens in football with Tom Brady…Sunday Ticket is the only way you can do that.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
