YouTube is partially responsible for the rise of alternative streams that run adjacent to traditional sports broadcasts. Now, it’s bringing that type of programming to the first game of the 2025 NFL season.
As the hotly anticipated matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers approaches, YouTube has shared some more details related to its first-ever exclusive airing of a regular-season NFL game. In addition to the traditional broadcast, which will be streamed on the YouTube homepage and the official NFL channel — several alternative feeds will be available, including one hosted by megastar iShowSpeed.
Speed, whose real name is Darren Watkins, is a longtime partner for YouTube’s NFL coverage. Along with his buddy Kai Cenat, Speed headed to the NFL YouTube channel to provide pregame entertainment ahead of last season’s Super Bowl. Now, he’s one of four creators who have been invited to co-stream the Chiefs-Chargers tilt. Comedian Tom Grossi will hel, the other English-language alternative broadcast, while Spanish-language coverage will be provided by Robegrill and SKabeche.
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Surprisingly, there will be no creator-led streams in Portuguese. Even though the game will be played in São Paulo, and creator sports coverage is popular in Brazil, YouTube is keeping its co-streams bilingual for now.
The four creator-led broadcasts will run next to YouTube’s more traditional feed, which will feature commentary from Super Bowl-winning QB Kurt Warner and longtime broadcaster Rich Eisen. Former college football player Deestroying will report from the sidelines, and Colombian pop star Karol G — who has a sizable YouTube presence of her own — will perform a halftime set.
In other words, no matter where you choose to watch YouTube’s exclusive NFL broadcast, the screen will be packed with creators. In that sense, the Chiefs-Chargers game won’t be much different from other NFL events YouTube has covered.
Given the amount of fanfare associated with YouTube’s venture into the world of NFL regular season exclusives, the decision to set up co-streams — and therefore deflect some amount of traffic away from the traditional feed — is a bit curious. But YouTube has several reasons to turn its creators into simulcasters. Reach is an obvious consideration here, given Speed’s 43 million YouTube subscribers. And since creators like Dude Perfect helped establish the phenomenon of alternative broadcasts, YouTube’s decision to include them here is a nice nod to the history of the trend.
YouTube will also get an opportunity to test the relatively recent feature known as Watch With, which will power the high-profile creator streams. Twitch’s version of that feature allows it to roll up massive cross-platform viewership numbers for blockbuster events like Ibai’s La Velada Del Año. YouTube wants to report a big viewership figure for its first exclusive NFL broadcast, and co-streaming is an easy way to pump up those numbers.
The creators will get some benefits out of the arrangement, too. Speed is set to embark on a U.S. tour that will be in full swing when the Chiefs-Chargers tilt goes down on September 5. Therefore, he’ll get some free promotion for his upcoming dates — not that he needs much help drawing a crowd.
