NFL, YouTube form partnership to post clips to video site
The National Football League and YouTube have formed a partnership to allow the league to post official NFL content on the video hosting service, reports the Associated Press.
For years, the league had not allowed its videos to be posted anywhere except on its official website and to the NFL’s broadcast partners. Clips can now be viewed through a Google search.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal is a multi-year pact, with Google agreeing to pay the NFL a “multimillion dollar” sum each year for the rights to host the NFL channel.
According to the report, daily content posted by the NFL will include game previews, in-game highlights, postgame recaps and clips. News, analysis and original programming from NFL Network and NFL.com will also be available on the site.
Google, which bought YouTube in 2006, has partnerships with the other three major North American sports leagues.
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“The focus is on non-live highlights,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, adding that ''the agreement will provide tremendous exposure for our broadcast partners.”
Highlight packages from Sunday’s Pro Bowl and a preview for next week’s Super Bowl XLIX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are already on the site.
From the AP's report:
''We continue to see an insatiable appetite for digital video content, and this partnership further expands fans' ability to discover and access NFL content throughout the year,'' Hans Schroeder, the NFL's senior vice president of media strategy, business development and sales, said in a statement distributed by the league.
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