YouTube TV now available in more than 98% of U.S. households

YouTube TV is expanding to 95 markets on Wednesday, making it available in more than 98 percent of U.S. households, with the remainder to follow shortly after. The announcement was made less than two-weeks out from Super Bowl, which YouTube TV subscribers can watch on the platform as CBS, the broadcasting company for this year’s game, is one of the 60 networks available on YouTube TV’s $40 a month plan.

Why you should care

A YouTube spokesperson confirmed YouTube TV will continue to sell roughly two-minutes of local ad inventory per hour on cable networks — ad inventory that is available exclusively to Google Preferred advertisers. Advertisers do not have control over what Google Preferred channels and content their ads appear alongside.

“Unlike Traditional TV, we do not use a one size fits all ads model, instead we use dynamic ad insertion to serve relevant ads for our users. So as the service expands across the country, it allows advertisers to reach more of the right users in the right markets across the country for their products and services,” said a YouTube spokesperson.

While the roll out comes just ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, game-time inventory on CBS will not be available to the Google Preferred network. No CBS distributors — including YouTube TV — will be able to sell ad inventory during the Super Bowl broadcast.

More on the YouTube TV

• YouTube TV first premiered in 2017 in only five markets for $35 per month. The OTT platform raised its subscriber rate to $40 per month in February, 2018.
• YouTube TV subscribers have access to more than 60 networks (including ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC), on-demand programming and unlimited cloud DVR storage.
• Subscribers can have up to six accounts and view YouTube TV content on TVs, desktops and mobile devices.