Emergency Google Gets NFL Sunday Ticket Newsletter

So many questions

I was going to write some lazy year end newsletter later this week (I still might) - but then the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Google/YouTube - not Apple - landed the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. And there are so many questions. But first an ad:

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Ok, here we go:

• Years ago, I remember being at a Google-hosted dinner, when one of their top executives said “we don’t really need the NFL.” What’s changed, since to his point - YouTube has done nothing but grow its base and revenue since then? Well…

• YouTube is a major player in TV today - but it’s always wanted the rights to sell TV ads for other TV networks - or at least facilitate such deals. Is this finally a way in?

• How big is advertising on Sunday Ticket anyway? As I understand it, DirecTV has long sold the couple minutes per hour of ad time that TV networks don’t control - much like cable distributors do. Does the same happen with Sunday Ticket, even if you’re watching out of market games?

• If Google does a good job with DirectTV ads, will that open more doors in the TV ad market, consider how much cutting the big TV companies are doing right now?

• Is Sunday Ticket still a big deal? I’ve never had it, since I never wanted to bother with a satellite dish on my house, and previously lived in apartments. There were definitely times in the past where I wished I’d had it, especially when New York was often stuck with just one Giant and one Jets game and both were lousy. But between Thursday Night Football, the NFL network, loosened restrictions on in-market blackouts, etc - there are so many games on now.

• Does Red Zone make NFL Sunday ticket redundant or severely limited in appeal? Or am I discounting cord-cutters too much?

• I realize this deal is not the same as Amazon nabbing Thursday Night Football, since in that case, Amazon is producing the actual games, whereas YouTube will be just distributing games from other networks - but this has to open Google up as a contender for other sports rights, right?

• After all, if Amazon has helped the NFL get considerably younger, wouldn’t YouTube bring an even younger audience to the league?

• If so, wouldn’t the NBA and other leagues automatically want a piece of YouTube’s youth?

• Given that Sunday ticket is a subscription product, will Google be able to create interesting packages with YouTube TV?

• Will the NFL let Google do anything interesting with its Ticket broadcast, such as bringing YT comments or Google searches into the broadcasts? Or doing games with influencers?

• As recently as September, NBC Sports’s Mike Florio reported that “Apple continues to be the favorite to land Sunday Ticket” - so what happened there? Is Tim Cook going to kick YouTube off the app store unless Mr. Beast gives him 30% of his income? Who broke up with who here? (It probably didn’t help Apple’s case that its streaming audience doesn’t even show up in Nielsen’s top 10).

• How did Amazon let this one go? As The Town’s Matthew Belloni put it, “Amazon hopes that Amazon Prime Video becomes the gate through which all content is accessed on the internet.” Big goal. Sunday Ticket sure would have helped. After this news hit, did Jeff Bezos just order Al Michael’s poisoning just because?

• What am I forgetting? Please comment or tell me where I’m wrong.

Lastly, for those of you who celebrate holidays, Happy Holidays!

Oh, and one more thing. Let’s partner in the new year. If you’re interesting in cool sponsorship deals that include a mix of podcast and newsletter ads, let’s talk. I’m at mike@shieldsstrateg.com.