Apr 17, 2023 [[read-time]] minute read
Welcome to the latest installment of our Innovation Series, a behind-the-scenes look at how the YouTube features find their way to your screen, as told by the people who create them.
Thank you to the Academy for this recognition to Google. This is YouTube TV’s first ever Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award, and we couldn’t be more proud of our team’s work on delivering Views for our members. Views is a suite of features that lets our members jump right into highlights such as key plays, stats, and scores from both the game they are watching as well as other games.
Views came out of a team brainstorm about five years ago, and launched about a year after YouTube TV. One great thing about working on YouTube TV is that we also get to be dedicated users of YouTube TV, and as we were exploring ideas of how to make content more digestible for users, Views came to life.
So why did we launch Views? Well, when we launched YouTube TV, we wanted to build a live TV experience for the new generation, one that was personalized, hassle-free, and — perhaps most important — fun. A lot of our viewers are devoted sports fans, and we found that when they watch sports, they aren't just looking at what’s on the big screen. They were also actively on their phones, finding more details such as stats for their fantasy football league, updates from other games, and more, all to enhance what they were already watching.
That’s where Views comes in. We wanted to provide the information our members were looking for, right on their TV, and only a button away.
When we introduced Views, it was only available for baseball, basketball, football, and hockey, and limited to just phones and tablets. Fast forward to today, you can now find Views for soccer and golf, and we launched a variation of Views, called “Jump to” segments, for tennis and even the Olympics. And it’s available right on the app where you watch YouTube TV.
Last year, the feature was most used by our members to catch up on regular season NFL games and Premier League matches, as well as the 2022 World Cup. And in fact, key plays have been used in over 10 million watch sessions on YouTube TV.1 Not too shabby, right?
Soon after, we rolled out “Segments,” our version of key plays for News programs. And we also expanded Views with Fantasy View, so fantasy football fans can connect their fantasy accounts and keep an eye on their league, all while watching games live on YouTube TV.
Our philosophy has always been that watching TV should always be easy, interactive and made for you. We couldn’t have done this without our partners — and fellow winners! — over at WSC Sports. This award is dedicated to our over 5 million members who have been on this journey with us. As we continue building the best live TV experience, we promise to keep you as our main priority. Thank you for getting us this far.
1. In 2022
