🏈 YouTube Is Hosting A Free NFL Game Next Season
YouTube is becoming a home for live sports
Last week, YouTube hosted Brandcast, their annual upfronts event for advertisers and the big news is that an NFL game is coming for free to YouTube.
The first Friday game of the NFL 2025-2026 season will be streamed exclusively on YouTube, a game hosted in Sao Paolo, Brazil between the Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Chargers.
You can already watch certain NFL games by paying for YouTube's NFL Sunday Ticket, but this is the first time that people will be able to watch a game for free on YouTube.
Much like how Netflix streamed NFL games last Christmas, we're going to see more sports properties available on streaming platforms.
Traditionally, sports leagues sold their broadcast rights to the biggest TV networks in the world because they had the biggest set of eyeballs.
As streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix continue growing bigger and bigger than TV networks, it's a no-brainer for sports league to want to show.
This is disruptive because sports rights are the most valuable and sought-after media rights in the world. Sports is the primary reason someone picks a particular broadcaster or cable network.
Now as the relationship between YouTube and the NFL increases, YouTube will be able to sell more premium inventory to advertisers and build deeper integrations and partnerships with brands.
As YouTube continues building more features like shoppable TV products, the value proposition for a league to host their games on a streaming platform becomes even more attractive.
With traditional media channels in decline, it seems inevitable that more live sports will be available on YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon.