Report: YouTube TV Aired Super Bowl Closer to Real-Time Than All Other Streamers, Breaking 40-Second Barrier

When it comes to live sports, many fans put a high value on latency. That term refers to how long the TV shows something after it happens in real-time. Having lived in a condo building during major sporting events, I would often hear my neighbors reacting to big plays seconds before I got to see them.

Comcast’s Xfinity cable service claims it aired Super Bowl LX just 17 seconds behind real-time, but when it comes to live TV streamers, the company suggests the latency broke down like this:

• YouTube TV: 39 seconds
• Hulu + Live TV: 48 seconds
• Sling TV: 52 seconds
• DIRECTV: 66 seconds

YouTube TV’s speedy broadcast comes after years of increasing latency for the service.

It looks like DIRECTV has some real work to do. Not only were they the slowest broadcast, but their delay has gotten consistently worse since 2020. DIRECTV is 46% slower than it was six years ago. It’s also the only multi-channel streamer to be slower in 2026 than 2025.

Fubo, of course, did not air the Super Bowl this year, thanks to their ongoing (and apparently unsolvable) feud with NBC Universal.

In the last few years, streamers owned by the Super Bowl network are faster than any streamer that carries multiple channels.

In 2025, Tubi was 26 seconds behind the action. In 2024, Paramount+ served up the game less than 43 seconds behind real-time — faster than any streamer. In 2023, the FOX Sports app came in under 24 seconds.

NFL+ has also been very speedy, beating out most live TV providers most years. We don’t have data on NFL+ for this year’s game. Another issue is that NFL+ only offers the game on mobile devices or tablets.

In 2027, the Super Bowl will appear on ABC and ESPN. If these patterns hold, the ESPN App may offer the fastest streaming solution.

An over-the-air antenna is usually the fastest way to watch a sports event. If you don’t have one, it’s a great way to watch TV for free, and it can prevent spoilers from your neighbors’ parties.