YouTube TV has won its first-ever Technical Emmy for its Views suite of features, which includes AI-ML curation of sports highlights. The feature allows users to access sports highlights, player stats, game scores, and key plays. In addition, the company also announced that Key Plays had been used in over 10 million watch sessions. The Views suite of features was created five years ago, initially for baseball, basketball, football, and hockey, with soccer and golf added later. The company has continued to enhance the suite with additional features, such as Fantasy Football View and the Jump to function.
YouTube TV has earned its inaugural Technical Emmy award, with the “Views” suite of features being recognized for its AI-ML curation of sports highlights. This marks the platform’s first-ever Technology & Engineering Emmy Award, presented at the 74th annual ceremony.
Kathryn Cochrane, Group Project Manager at YouTube TV, wrote in a company blog post: “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.”
Alongside this recognition, YouTube TV has also celebrated a milestone for its Key Plays feature, which has been used in over 10 million watch sessions on the platform. The feature tracks important plays in a game and allows users to tap on the plays to re-watch them at any point, proving useful for users who may have missed a live game and want to catch up on key moments.
Cochrane added: “Views came out of a team brainstorming about five years ago and launched about a year after YouTube TV. 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.”
Originally, the Views suite was only available for baseball, basketball, football, and hockey, with soccer and golf being added at a later date. Initially, the suite was also limited to phones and tablets, but it is now available within the YouTube TV app across smart TVs and mobile devices.
YouTube TV’s Views suite also features a Fantasy Football View, which is a mobile-only feature that lets users link their existing fantasy football account. This allows users to see how their team is performing in real time while watching NFL games on the platform.
Also, the feature offers a “jump to” capability that enables viewers to easily reach a part they want to watch. Tennis enthusiasts and users who are following the Olympics will find this to be especially helpful. Recently, YouTube TV launched a multiview feature that enables sports fans to watch four games simultaneously, but it is currently only available to select users in the U.S.
The Views suite of features was born after a team brainstormed around five years ago to enhance the viewing experience for YouTube TV’s sports fanbase. As the company noted, these viewers are not just passively watching the games; they are also actively seeking out more information and stats to improve their viewing experience.
Overall, the success of Views and Key Plays showcases YouTube TV’s ongoing commitment to improving the user experience and engaging its viewers through innovative features.
