YouTube to Stream Live Major League Baseball Games
Google’s YouTube has agreed with Major League Baseball for exclusive rights to stream games in the second half of the season.
The 13 games will be distributed on YouTube globally, and exclusively in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, the parties said Tuesday. The actual matchups, which haven’t been chosen yet, will stream live on MLB’s official YouTube channel and via a new channel on YouTube TV. Coverage will feature pre- and post-game shows, and include YouTube creators. Financial terms weren’t given.
“With Major League Baseball’s expanding international fan base, 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,” Timothy Katz, the video sites’ head of sports and news partnerships, said in a statement.
MLB striked a similar deal with Facebook last season, which marked the first time a major U.S. league agreed to show regular-season games exclusively on the social network.
YouTube has made live sports a centerpiece of its live service, YouTube TV, which in 2017 became the presenting sponsor of the World Series.
Live sports give YouTube premium programming it can use to lure advertisers and burnish its image as outlet for marketers.