YouTube Gets 13-Game Major League Baseball Package

The deal includes exclusive North American rights and rights beyond, with a YouTube executive highlighting MLB's "expanding international fan base."

Google's YouTube and Major League Baseball on Tuesday unveiled their first-ever exclusive live game distribution partnership, with 13 MLB games set to stream on YouTube and YouTubeTV during the second half of the regular baseball season.

The games package will be distributed on YouTube globally, excluding select territories, with exclusive distribution rights in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Dates and matchups covered by the deal, whose financial terms weren't disclosed, will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

The games will stream live on MLB’s official YouTube channel and via a channel on YouTube TV, the companies said. "All 13 matchups will include a pre-game and post-game show and contain MLB- and YouTube-themed content, with some of the highly popular YouTube creators scheduled to be part of the action," they added. The games will be produced and enhanced for YouTube by the MLB Network’s production team.

“It’s incredible to team up with Major League Baseball for this first-of-its-kind deal together to provide both diehard baseball fans and our YouTube community with live games exclusively on YouTube and YouTube TV,” said Timothy Katz, head of sports and news partnerships at YouTube. “With Major League Baseball’s expanding international fan base, we are confident YouTube’s global audience will bring fans around the world together in one place to watch the games and teams they love.”

YouTube is a long-standing partner of MLB and its 30 clubs, hosting highlights and classic games for more than a decade. The relationship more recently evolved with YouTube TV becoming the first-ever presenting sponsor of the World Series (2017-2019) and the MLB Network being added to the YouTube TV channel lineup.

“YouTube is an enormously popular video platform with impressive global reach and has served as a great environment for baseball fans to consume the game they love,” said Chris Tully, MLB executive vp global media. “We are excited to expand our partnership with YouTube to provide fans with an exclusive, customized live game viewing experience. With the media consumption habits of our fans continuing to evolve, MLB is committed both to expanding our roster of national broadcast platforms and to presenting live games in new ways to our fans.”