The multiview feature on YouTube TV has sparked significant debate since its soft launch during the 2023 NCAA Tournament. While there has been considerable praise for its implementation across various sports, including college basketball and the NFL, many users have expressed frustration over the preset combinations offered instead of fully customizable feed options. This limitation has particularly impacted fans wanting to watch different competitions simultaneously, such as the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. Fortunately, YouTube TV plans to roll out more customizable options soon, though these changes won’t take effect until the Sweet 16.
Jacob Feldman reported this news in a piece at Sportico, where he details YouTube TV’s rationale against offering fully customizable multiview options. Senior product manager Brianne Mirecki explained that the service needs to provide different multiview packages for each local affiliate, which has contributed to the current limitations, as seen during fall NFL Sunday Ticket games. Feldman notes that each multiview “package” is a single feed rather than a composite, primarily to accommodate devices with varying computing power, including mobile devices that received multiview last year.
Feldman adds that “Even a web giant like Google-owned YouTube is not ready to serve a completely limitless array of multiview selections. At least not yet.” This raises questions regarding the costs associated with creating additional single feeds or allowing user-selected composites, disregarding device limitations, and whether such improvements would justify the investment for Google, especially considering past price hikes (like the increase to $82.99 a month in January). For now, it appears Google’s internal assessments haven’t indicated that this expansion is worthwhile.
While Mirecki refrained from discussing the financial aspects of their decision-making, she did share some intriguing insights with Feldman:
A team of sports fans armed with usage data (and social media feedback) determines which games will be paired together. “We have to strike the right balance between what viewers want and our capacity,” Mirecki said.
“We are always refining our approach to improve the available combinations for our viewers,” Mirecki stated.
Mirecki emphasized that YouTube TV is focusing on enhancing its backend technology to increase the number of simultaneous multiview options, aiming for more choices this upcoming NFL season.
The NFL season could be easier to manage for creating single feeds since fewer games occur at any time, which partly explains the success of Sunday Ticket multiview last fall, despite initial issues with local Fox and CBS feeds. Even with those limitations, YouTube TV might eventually offer feeds with every potential combination of NFL games, pending improvements in backend technology.
However, for fans wanting to watch NFL games alongside other events (like college football, the NBA, NASCAR, or women’s college sports), a provider-side approach may not fulfill every individual preference. This limitation becomes particularly evident during March Madness, which now also highlights the women’s tournament, as many viewers wish to follow both NCAA tournaments and other college basketball postseason games. YouTube TV’s data-informed strategies can help predict popular viewing combinations, and it’s promising that they’re planning to introduce men’s and women’s combo packages, even if they won’t be available until the Sweet 16.
Nevertheless, the vast array of potential combinations (for example, the mathematical possibility of choosing four multiview feeds from 16 sports options) indicates that provider-side multiview curation is unlikely to satisfy every fan’s desires, especially during dynamic events like March Madness. Given the increasing demand for personalized viewing experiences, there may be opportunities for further discussions regarding the strategy of offering multiview as various single curated feeds rather than individual user-selected composites. While this approach may suit devices with limited processing power—important for mobile viewing during events like March Madness—it ultimately falls short in achieving complete viewer personalization. The overarching trend in sports broadcasting emphasizes increased feed customization, an aspect that provider-side curation will struggle to address effectively.
