YouTube TV Will Offer Bundle of NFL Sunday Ticket and Max This Season; Is Sunday Ticket Struggling to Attract Users?
Google released its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday. As part of its conference call with analysts and investors to discuss the report, the company revealed that it would be offering a bundle that incorporates both NFL Sunday Ticket and Warner Bros. Discovery’s premium streaming service Max at some point this football season.
“With Warner Brothers Discovery, we expanded our multiyear relationship across our entire Android ecosystem, including partnering on the launch of Max, a deepened mutually beneficial relationship on Google TV, and plans to work together on new services,” said Google SVP Phillip Schindler. “YouTube’s expanded deal for Max, inclusive of a Max/NFL Sunday Ticket bundle on YouTube TV, also underscores our joint commitment to bring the highest quality content and experiences to our customers.”
No details whatsoever, including price, availability date, or terms and conditions for the bundle were made available during the call. Presumably, they will be forthcoming as the NFL season creeps closer; the regular season is due to begin on Thursday, Sept. 7 when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Detroit Lions.
This is not the only announcement regarding Sunday Ticket that Google has made this week. The company, which purchased the rights to the NFL's out-of-market games platform in late 2022 for its live TV streaming service YouTube TV, is also partnering with Verizon to offer Sunday Ticket to select new and existing customers for free for the 2023 season, though there are several hefty strings attached.
The fact that these offers and potential bundles are starting to crop up this close to the start of the NFL regular season could suggest that Sunday Ticket isn’t seeing the sign-up numbers Google needs yet. Underscoring this possibility is the fact that until June 6, YouTube TV was offering a $100 discount to new customers who signed up for the service. Perhaps even the discounted rate was too rich for most users’ budgets, and now the company is pivoting to new strategies to sell Sunday Ticket subscriptions.
Estimates from MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson suggest that YouTube and Google will have to bring 4.5 million Sunday Ticket subscribers onboard just to break even on the seven-year, $2 billion+ per-season deal it signed with the NFL to get the package. Sunday Ticket never had more than 2 million subscribers when it resided with DIRECTV, so YouTube essentially has to double the customer base the service saw at its previous height before Google can even think of profiting from it.
Max could be a fantastic potential partner for Sunday Ticket, especially if the writer/actor strike currently shuttering in productions in Hollywood ends quickly. The bundle would allow viewers to watch NFL games all day, and switch to whatever episode of prestige TV is being shown on HBO that Sunday night with ease. But continuing to offer discounts and bundled options for Sunday Ticket may be an indication from Google that it’s not seeing the subscription results it wants from the service yet.
NFL Sunday Ticket
NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription video streaming service that allows football fans to watch every live out-of-market NFL game on Sunday afternoons on YouTube or YouTube TV.