YouTube has started to roll out “Multiview,” a feature that lets YouTube TV subscribers stream four sports matches simultaneously.
“Just in time for March Madness, we’re launching early access for the ability for fans to watch multiple streams at once,” said YouTube in a blog post.
March Madness, if you’re not familiar is a college basketball tournament in the US.
During its early access period, some YouTube TV members will begin to see an option to watch up to four pre-selected, different streams at once in their “Top Picks for You” section. After selecting multiview, viewers will then be able to switch audio and captions between streams and swap between watching any of the games in fullscreen.
YouTube plans to monitor feedback from users as it gives more people access over the coming months as the NFL season approaches. YouTube wants all subscribers to have multiview by the time the regular season kicks off.
YouTube TV is a free ad-supported streaming service though users can pay to remove the adverts from the service with a premium subscription. It is currently only available in the US and has managed to attract five million subscribers.
The ad-supported portion of Youtube TV has a somewhat tricky relationship with the rest of YouTube.
According to YouTube, some non-skippable in-stream ads and bumper ads purchased in the Google Ads auction might run on YouTube TV. Google Ads auction campaigns, meanwhile, are not guaranteed to serve on YouTube TV.
It is also not possible to target specific YouTube TV channels, nor completely opt out of serving ads on YouTube TV. It is also not possible to exclude YouTube TV programs in Google Ads auction campaigns.
However, advertisers can exclude up to 10 YouTube TV channels in Google Ads auction campaigns.
At present, it is not clear whether YouTube TV will expand beyond the US but it seems unlikely that Google would have created the service without global ambitions.
