Fans have been redefining how they watch NFL games in recent years as the league has increased partnerships with streaming services. On Friday, another digital platform will be added to that list, as the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers game is headed to YouTube.
The Chiefs-Chargers matchup at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil, will be the first NFL game streamed on YouTube. It will be free and available for most viewers except for those in select countries. The YouTube stream is separate from the cable-like, U.S.-based YouTube TV, though users of the paid service will also have access to it.
The YouTube deal was first announced in May as another domino to fall in the NFL's experimentation with viewer outreach. The YouTube partnership is not tied to any paid subscription, making it different from agreements the league has with other streamers like Amazon and Netflix.
No paywall stretches the potential audience, but one aspect to watch for will be whether the platform can handle the demand. Several smaller-scale sports leagues use YouTube as a primary distribution tool. A notable recent example is the Savannah Bananas, a booming baseball sensation that streams every game on YouTube, though its popularity has led to promotion on ESPN platforms as well.
But the NFL audience is a different behemoth. When 1.3 million fans watched Taylor Swift on the Kelce brothers' "New Heights" podcast in August, the YouTube stream seemingly crashed. During last year's regular season, the NFL averaged 17.5 million viewers per game. YouTube's base of 2.5 billion monthly active users makes it the world's most popular video distribution channel.
NBC will handle the production of the YouTube broadcast with Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner on the call. A YouTube pregame show will be hosted by NFL reporter Kay Adams and YouTube creator Peter Overzet, and several alternative live streams will be offered during the game, including one from IShowSpeed, whose YouTube subscriber count tops 43 million. YouTube promoted the game earlier this week with a video by another one of its most popular content creators, Mr. Beast, that featured NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Though this will be the first game exclusive to YouTube, the service is in the midst of a seven-year contract worth around $14 billion with the NFL for the rights to Sunday Ticket, a subscription product that allows fans to watch out-of-market games.
The Chiefs-Chargers Week 1 game kicks off at 8 p.m. ET and is the first of seven international NFL games this season. Last season's Brazil game between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles was exclusive to Peacock, the streaming service of NBC.