It’s hard to imagine March Madness before multiview, back when one needed to visit a bar or use multiple screens to follow every upset bid and potential buzzer beater simultaneously. It’s harder still to recall the days when some games weren’t broadcast nationally, even if that was only 15 years ago.
YouTube TV added multiview functionality in March 2023. Last year, it let fans select a set of up to four feeds from a preset list of options. YouTube TV also brought multiview to mobile devices in 2024. And yes, YouTube says that platform proved particularly popular during weekday working hours, with multiview not currently available on laptop and web interfaces.
Other constraints remain. Each multiview stream of two, three or four games is actually a composite feed of the combined games—one video rather than multiple. YouTube TV opted for this method so that the feature would be available on devices with a range of computing power (with typical options like “decreased” broadcast delay still available too), but it means that creating each multiview combination puts additional strain on YouTube TV’s servers. When watching in splitscreen, users can also select a single feed to enter full-screen mode.
Adding CBS games to the mix is particularly taxing, given YouTube TV is actually serving roughly 210 different versions of CBS and other local stations, divided by broadcast markets. What might look like a single multiview offering is in fact more than 200. All of which is to say, even a web giant like Google-owned YouTube is not ready to serve a completely unlimited array of multiview selections. At least not yet.
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On Friday, when both men’s and women’s first round games are on, YouTube TV will offer about as many multiview combos as it does on NFL Sundays, senior product manager Brianne Mirecki said via email. A team of sports fans armed with usage data (as well as feedback on social media) determines which games will be paired together. “We have to strike the right balance between what viewers want with our capacity,” Mirecki said.
Generally, events from the same leagues are kept together. On Friday, for instance, men’s and women’s multiviews will be offered separately. If you truly want to watch all of March Madness live, it’ll be time to break out that second screen again.
However, in part due to user demand, YouTube TV says mixed gender multiviews will be available starting with the Sweet 16.
The job of prioritizing selections has only gotten more complicated as interest in women’s hoops has boomed. Through the first two rounds in 2024, viewership of the women’s tourney was up 108% over the year prior.
Though the “March Madness” brand is now used for both men’s and women’s competitions, separate media deals dictate their distribution. CBS and TNT Sports networks split the men’s games, including streaming on March Madness Live apps, while ESPN’s channels host women’s action. Disney+ will also carry the Final Four.
Cable providers, then, are required for fans hoping to seamlessly hop back and forth between the two brackets, even as fans shift to a streaming-first future. Because the NCAA Tournament’s TV schedule is built as the games progress, YouTube TV staffers often have to wait for the end of late-night action before programming future multiviews.
“We are always refining our approach to improve the combinations that are available to our viewers,” Mirecki said.
In particular, Mirecki said YouTube TV is focused on improving its backend tech to increase the number of multiview options that can be offered simultaneously, “so that viewers will have more choices this upcoming NFL season.”
By 2026, YouTube TV users will likely have access to even more multi-madness. And someday, our current limitations will also become remnants of distant tournament history.
