YouTube TV’s Multiview feature is now available to some subscribers, and it has been confirmed that the ability to watch multiple streams on the same screen at once will also be coming to the main YouTube app as well.
At present, the feature, often referred to as Mosaic Mode, has only been released in an early access state. In other words, some subscribers will have to wait until later in the year before they gain access to the feature. Specifically, before the start of the NFL season in the fall.
It is now expected that, around the same time, the feature will also become available to those using the main YouTube app. In a blog post explaining how the feature works, YouTube explicitly confirms that it is “looking to bring this multiview experience to the main YouTube app across TVs later this year”.
What’s probably important to note in that message is ‘across TVs’ as this would seem to suggest that Multiview will primarily be released as a smart TV and streaming player app feature, potentially excluding its use on mobile devices.
Device compatibility aside, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that YouTube isn’t reserving Multiview just for its paying YouTube TV subscribers. After all, YouTube has bet big on the NFL with the purchase of Sunday Ticket, and Multiview seems somewhat purpose-designed with football in mind.
Considering users of the standard YouTube app will also be able to sign up to NFL Sunday Ticket as a Primetime channel and without a YouTube TV membership, it makes sense that the company wants all paying users, YouTube or YouTube TV, to enjoy football in the best way possible — with multiple streams on one screen.
