YouTube TV is entering its second year as the home of NFL Sunday Ticket. With just two weeks before kickoff, the live TV streaming service just announced some massive upgrades to your viewing experience.
In a blog post, YouTube (which owns YouTube TV) announced that it was improving multiview by allowing all NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers to create custom multiviews via the build a multiview feature. It also announced improvements to Fantasy View, allowing users to connect Yahoo Fantasy accounts to their YouTube TV experience.
But YouTube wasn't done there. It also announced some smaller features including a new spoiler mode, advanced playback controls and more. Here's everything you can expect with this massive feature update.
Build a multiview rolls out to Sunday Ticket
For those who don't know, multiview allows you to watch up to four games on one screen. There are a few services that provide this feature now, but when it comes to cable TV alternatives, YouTube TV has really led the way.
Earlier this year, YouTube TV announced build a multiview. Originally, multiviews were curated by YouTube TV, albeit in enough permutations that you could choose almost any combination of games. It rolled out the feature to some users during March Madness and I got to test it out during that time. After spending some time with it, I commented "I'm honestly surprised that it [multiview] wasn't always this way."
Now, build a multiview is expanding to all NFL Sunday Ticket users on TVs, mobile devices and tablets. If you have YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket, you can even add your local NFL game to up to three Sunday Ticket games to ensure you don't miss a second of your local team while watching the games.
Fantasy View adds Yahoo Fantasy
Fantasy football players have been able to add their NFL.com Fantasy teams to their YouTube TV viewing experience since 2020. But now, Yahoo Fantasy users can also add their teams, which adds a major platform to the Fantasy View feature.
In Fantasy View, you can view how your fantasy football team is doing while watching games on YouTube TV. All you have to do is select the Scores & Stats icon on the user interface while watching a game and then select the Fantasy tab.
YouTube also says that more upgrades to Fantasy View are coming. According to the blog post, the feature "will also launch on mobile devices, tablets, and web later this season" and soon fantasy football players "will start seeing key plays and multiview combinations tailored to their fantasy lineups." That last one is a serious upgrade, so we'll definitely be keeping an eye out for that.
Other new Sunday Ticket features
Aside from these big updates, there are a couple additional features worth highlighting:
- Spoiler mode: This feature lets you hide scores for specific teams, so you can avoid seeing the final score or live preview of a game you're still waiting to watch
- Upgraded user interface: Back in March, YouTube unveiled a new video player experience. That new user interface is rolling out for everyone on YouTube TV, allowing you to check out stats, scores, key plays, your fantasy lineups, and build your multiviews while still always watching the game
- Broadcast Delay: On YouTube TV, you can now select the three-dot More menu to find a new option — Broadcast Delay. This option allows you to choose between "decreased" or "default" broadcast delays. Default is the best option for minimizing playback interruptions but Decreased is the best option for reducing live spoilers. If you pick Decreased, it will stay on until you disable it
