After a record year, YouTube extends its Coachella livestream deal to 2030
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YouTube is holding onto its exclusive livestream deal with Coachella.
The tech giant in San Bruno, Calif., has renewed its partnership with festival promoter Goldenvoice, keeping exclusive livestream rights to the three-day desert festival through 2030. The next edition, in April 2027, will mark 15 years of Coachella on YouTube.
“We’re excited to bring the energy of the desert to millions of music fans around the world,” Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief executive officer, said at its Made On YouTube event in New York City on Wednesday morning.
This year’s Coachella, headlined by Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G, drew the most concurrent viewers in the history of Coachella on YouTube, according to the company. Bieber, who was discovered on YouTube, even included a nostalgic homage to the platform into his set.
Coachella is no longer a single cultural event but a deliberately fragmented one, each part reshaping what the festival means and where it’s headed.
Over the years, the livestream has become an essential part of the Coachella experience, especially for fans who can’t make it to the desert. What started as a single feed has evolved into live coverage of every stage across both weekends.
Beyond Coachella, YouTube doubled down on livestreaming during its presentation, unveiling a slew of new live and AI-powered tools. In August, more than 600 million logged-in viewers watched live content on the platform each day on average, according to YouTube. The new live features include a new co-hosting function in which two creators can appear on the same stream together, and a live auto-dubbing tool that automatically translates speech in real time. Several of the updates are slated to roll out in early 2027.
The 32-year-old pop star reframed the idea of a headlining Coachella performance.
“Whether it’s a music festival or a creator’s livestream, fandom is no longer a spectator sport,” added Mohan. “Just look at the sheer scale of the live communities we’re seeing today.”
YouTube isn’t the only streamer leaning into live. Netflix has spent the last few years buliding out its own live business, which now includes NFL and MLB games.
