Over the weekend, Next TV examined the lofty bar (we estimate around 6 million subscribers) that Google and YouTube need to reach in order to make their $2 billion+ investment in the NFL Sunday Ticket license profitable ... and whether the broader Alphabet has more diffuse goals (a loss leader?) for the out-of-market games package than mere bottom line.
But already, we're seeing Google's potential to expand the reach of NFL Sunday Ticket far beyond what longtime incumbent stakeholder DirecTV was ever capable of imagining.
On Wednesday, Google TV product managers Nick Staubach and Sal Altayyar published a company blog post, outlining how NFL Sunday Ticket will be natively integrated into the Google TV streaming operating system in the U.S.
"This means you can now access live out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, see top highlights and get recommendations for top games of the week, all right on your Google TV home screen," the post said. "And if you’re a YouTube TV subscriber with NFL Sunday Ticket as part of your membership, the content will be available in the channel guide on your Live tab, so you can quickly find any game you’re looking for."
So right off the bat, Google can promote the package to millions of Americans on the home screens of their TVs.
In the U.S., Google TV powers not only the popular Chromecast With Google TV CTV device, but also smart TVs made by Hisense, Sony and TCL, among other brands.
Google said in January that there are now more than 150 million devices globally powered by Google TV and its predecessor, Android TV.
