How to fix live sports lagging on YouTube TV

One of the best aspects of YouTube TV is all the live sports streaming. However, if you notice a lag where games or results are lagging, you are not alone. There's nothing worse than mobile apps or a friend ruining a touchdown a minute or two before you see it live. Luckily, there is a simple solution.

Traditional cable or satellite broadcasts broadcast sporting events live and in real time, often 60 seconds (or more) ahead of streaming services like YouTube TV and Sling TV. Therefore, you may experience delays in YouTube TV streaming, especially sports broadcasts. I love YouTube's multiview feature, but this compounds the problem.

How to reduce lag on YouTube TV broadcasts

Luckily, we have good news. A simple option in Settings can speed up sports streams on YouTube TV, reduce lag and allow you to catch all the action before betting apps, friends or fantasy football notifications spoil a game-changing game.

First, launch the YouTube TV app and navigate down to the “3 dots” menu button.

Next, in the playback settings, select “Broadcast Delay” from the list of options and then set it to “Reduced.”

And that's it, we're all done. You should immediately notice a difference at that point in the transmission. It should be noted that changing this setting once is enough. You don't need to customize it for individual channels; it applies to all content.

After making this change, I noticed that NFL games were a solid 10 to 20 seconds ahead and closer to my Yahoo! Sports app notifications. Now I'm less than 10 seconds behind DirecTV. This is just one of many ways to get the most out of YouTube TV.

Why is there a lag on YouTube TV?

By adding a short broadcast delay, YouTube TV can better handle Internet slowdowns, interruptions, and other disruptions for a better viewing experience. Basically, it helps prevent a blurry stream, poor image quality, or buffering.

Here's how Google explains it: A delay is added to live programming to minimize interruptions. You can reduce this delay, which may affect the quality of the transmission or cause re-buffering. YouTube TV mentions that the default setting is best for minimizing potential problems, while changing it to Reduced is best for reducing spoilers when streaming live.

Unfortunately, transmission delay reduction is only available on smart TVs and streaming boxes. We're hoping it'll be available for Android or iOS at some point, but we'll have to wait and see.

If you don't have a stable Wi-Fi connection or fast internet at home, this change may occasionally cause playback issues when streaming content to YouTube TV. If you experience problems or frequent rebuffering, go back to Settings and reset the setting to Default. Finally, YouTube TV mentions that this is an experimental feature, so it could change or disappear at a later date.