Google TV has undergone dramatic changes over the past few years, and it hasn’t always been for the better. From introducing large QR codes on the home screen to full-screen ads with audio, Google consistently deprioritized relevant content in favor of more frustrating ads. However, the September 2024 update for older Google TV and Chromecast models introduced several nifty features, including a dedicated sports page.
Most of this update revolved around new AI features, allowing you to create AI-generated screensavers and summarize movies and shows with Gemini. But this is nothing groundbreaking for Google. The new sports page caught our eye and highlighted Google’s major problem with sports coverage.
The Sports tab is frustratingly generic
Google hopes you’re ready to catch the big sports game
Nobody enjoys watching “sports.” We all have our favorite teams, leagues, and tournaments. Even the most apathetic sports fan (for example, me) will have a stronger attachment to some team for some reason. For me, it’s the Seattle Kraken, partly because it was the closest ice hockey team and partly because the name is utterly badass. While I’ve yet to see a game live, I would be fairly likely to put on a game as background noise during chores if it happened to pop up on my For You page. However, that’s not the reality here.
Google claims the new sports page in the For You tab “brings all of your sports content into one place.” However, the company executed this idea in a scattershot way that appeals to approximately no one. Rather than delving into its vast cache of data to find what sports content you want to watch, Google recommends the most popular content trending on social media. It might be popular, but the chances of it appealing to you are relatively slim.
For example, one of AP’s team, a vocal and passionate Rockets fan, is regularly presented with LA Lakers content. For them, this is worthless content. There isn’t a connection between what they want to watch and what Google shows them. There’s no way to customize this page or make the recommendations more accurate. Your best bet is to open the Sports tab once in a while to see if there is something relevant. But let’s face it, you probably already know what you’re going to watch and when.
I can’t figure out who this Sports page is for. Chances are you already know when your favorite team is playing, but will Google bring that front and center on your Sports page? Maybe, maybe not. Like the For You page, whether Google recommends relevant content seems random. So why does this exist?
How does Google benefit from the Sports page?
The answer will not blow your mind
The Sports tab in Google TV’s For You page is ultimately useless. While nothing is inherently bad about it, it’s hard to imagine people jumping at the bit to browse a selection of random live sports games. So what’s the point? Is this another case of feature bloat, or is the answer something more predictable?
As I mentioned at the start of this article, ads are taking over Google TV. It’s difficult to see the value of the For You tab in 2025 when it’s only ads packed between mostly irrelevant content. For many of us, Google TV has become a brief stop on our way to our streaming service rather than a page to explore new content.
The only reasonable explanation for why this Sports page exists is ads. Google can prioritize ad-supported content to earn its cut and display more accurate ads between recommendations. Whether this is an effective strategy for Google remains to be seen, but as the number of new Google TV users jumped by 120 million between January 2023 and September 2024, it makes sense that the company is trying to squeeze as much ad revenue out of its rapidly growing user base as possible.
The Sports page is just one part of Google TV’s growth of ad-supported content
It’s easier to watch ads than ever before
Alongside the Sports page update, Google consolidated all its free ad-supported channels under the standalone Google TV Freeplay app. Strangely, while the Sports page is a random dump of the most popular sports content in one place, Google TV Freeplay has useful tools for filtering channels by genre and topic. You can also add a free channel to a Favorites tab for easy access.
Related
Freeplay is officially the new home for Google TV’s free streaming channels
Google TV is also getting a new Sports page
I would expect this kind of experience from a dedicated sports tab. Even if we only want to watch our favorite team for a specific sport, filtering the Sports page to show content related to one specific league first would be more useful than just the most popular content.
Google TV is taking one step forward and two steps back
As of September 2024, the new Google TV experience is a badly curated selection of sports content, an easier way to watch ads, and an AI tool that replaces the work of real-life artists on your screensaver with AI-generated images.
If you like watching a big sports game, catching highlights of the teams who played in a sports game, and seeing a breakdown of the big sporting moment in a sporting match, Google TV has you covered. These features are available for older Google TV devices, plus the new Google TV Streamer, which might not offer the value you expect from its price tag.
