YouTube TV just took home a tech & engineering Emmy

YouTube TV has snagged itself an Emmy.

The 2023 Technology and Engineering Emmys awarded YouTube’s subscription TV service for Views, a suite of features that collect and display real-time information about sports matches (and fantasy sports) across different disciplines and leagues.

“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,” Kathryn Cochrane, YouTube TV’s group project manager, said in a company blog post.

She added that the idea for Views came when YouTube noticed YouTube TV viewers “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,” she said.

Views originally launched about a year after YouTube TV first went on the air, and included info for basketball, baseball, football, and hockey. It now offers soccer and golf, too.

Cochrane said that in 2022, Views was most commonly used by YouTube TV subscribers to catch up on regular season NFL games (probably a good sign considering YouTube is spending very, very big on exclusive rights to the NFL’s Sunday Ticket for the next seven years) and Premier League soccer matches, as well as the World Cup. To date, Views’ key plays—a feature that showcases important match moments for instant replay—have been used in over 10 million YouTube TV watch sessions, she said.

“This award is dedicated to our over 5 million members who have been on this journey with us,” Cochrane said. “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.”