YouTube is bringing NFL-style multiview to Coachella 2024’s livestream

YouTube’s official livestream of this year’s Coachella music festival will feature a technology many football fans are familiar with. Multiview, which allows viewers to watch multiple livestreams on the same screen while tuning into one audio feed, will be available to viewers of the festival’s stream on any YouTube TV app — no need to subscribe to YouTube TV, the platform announced on Thursday.

Just as multiview on NFL Sunday Ticket enables audiences to watch four different games at once, the feature for Coachella will allow for up to four different stages at once. Viewers can switch between audio feeds and jump in and out of fullscreen view. There will be a total of six feeds — or six stages — to choose from. The festival this year will take place across two weekends: April 12th through 14th and April 19th through 21st.

YouTube and Goldenvoice, the producer behind the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, have had an exclusive content partnership for 12 years now, enabling fans to stream both weekends of the iconic music festival on its official YouTube channel for free. YouTube pays a licensing fee to feature the exclusive livestream of the festival but then benefits from the ad revenue such a buzzworthy event generates. Performances such as Beyonce’s 2018 two-hour Beychella set or Blackpink’s performance of “Typa Girl” last year can rack up millions of views and circulate on social media for weeks. 

Given that sales for 2024’s Coachella have been the slowest in more than a decade, Vulture noted that the festival is truly counting on generating any kind of extra attention this year. Nearly four months after sales opened, tickets for Weekend 2 are still available on Coachella’s official website, and both general admission and VIP tickets for both weekends are still readily available on third-party resale sites. This is highly unusual for the high-volume festival in Indio, California; tickets for both weekends normally sell out in mere hours or days.

Some theories for why this year’s sluggish ticket sales include the high prices, the quality of this year’s lineup, and general festival fatigue. In any case, a sizable chunk of Coachella’s usual base is skipping the festivities this year, whether it’s due to lack of enthusiasm or a lack of cash. Whether this will translate to more eyeballs from YouTube audiences still curious enough to stream Coachella — is left to be seen.