YouTube and its subscription streaming counterpart, YouTube TV, will have exclusive rights to broadcast 13 MLB games in the second half of the 2019 season.
MLB Network will produce the games that will only air on YouTube’s platforms and not on traditional broadcast TV or on the league’s out-of-market package, MLB.TV. This agreement is similar to MLB’s partnership with Facebook last year, albeit with half the inventory of games. All 13 games will have pre- and post-game shows and will feature appearances from popular YouTube creators.
The exact matchups included in the agreement have not yet been announced. The exclusivity pertains to fans watching in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, but fans worldwide will be able to tune in via MLB’s YouTube channel. (YouTube TV is not accessible internationally.)
“It’s incredible to team up with Major League Baseball for this first-of-its-kind deal together to provide both diehard baseball fans and our YouTube community with live games exclusively on YouTube and YouTube TV,” said Timothy Katz, YouTube’s head of sports and news partnerships, in a statement. “With Major League Baseball’s expanding international fanbase, we are confident YouTube’s global audience will bring fans around the world together in one place to watch the games and teams they love.”
YouTube TV has been a presenting sponsor of the past two World Series and will be again this October. (It also is the sponsor of the NBA Finals.) The streaming service includes MLB Network and most regional sports networks.
MLB has had a YouTube channel since 2005 and has more than 1.6 million subscribers. The MLB channel had 1.25 billion views in 2018, a 25-percent increase over 2017’s audience.
SportTechie Takeaway
Since its inception, YouTube TV has been trying to position itself as the best skinny streaming bundle for sports against competition from Fubo TV, Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, and others. YouTube TV is also a local broadcast rights holder for two MLS clubs, LAFC and the Seattle Sounders. This exclusive agreement with MLB will continue to drive brand awareness and subscribers to YouTube TV while allowing the league to build off last year’s Facebook experiment with new social presentations of its games. (This year Facebook is airing only six non-exclusive games.) MLB commissioner Rob Manfred called the exclusive Facebook deal a “great experiment” with the average viewer of those games about 20 years younger than those fans watching on linear TV.