Women's Hockey is Back on Twitch... Maybe?

After the first few games of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL)'s sophomore season were broadcast on YouTube for fans across the United States, the league is now seemingly testing different options, electing to put this weekend's games on Twitch instead. It's unclear at this point whether the PWHL will return to YouTube, stay on Twitch or go elsewhere, but the switch - which has come with no real formal announcement - is a confusing one at best.

On November 30, the PWHL posted the below graphic on X, announcing that games would be available on the league's YouTube account.

The same day, the league shared a graphic indicating that the Charge/Victoire game would not be on YouTube. After several unhappy responses from fans, the league deleted its post and the game did air on YouTube in the U.S.

This weekend's games have been available on the PWHL's website, which contains a Twitch embed. You can go directly to Twitch to watch the games and participate in the chat. There's been confirmation as to why the switch happened, though it could be related to the league's dealings with Amazon (select games in Canada are airing on Amazon Prime) and Amazon's ownership of Twitch. YouTube is also notorious for copyright strikes with regards to music during live events.

I have to say, I didn't imagine I'd ever be back watching professional women's hockey on Twitch, but here we are. The NWHL/PHF was previously on Twitch years ago, and while there are certainly benefits to it - notably, the accessibility and the community that can be built - this feels like a bit of a step backwards to me. Twitch is not as well known as YouTube, is more of a platform for gamers/streamers, and does not have easy capabilities like rewind or captions. This is taking me back to the days of watching the NWHL/PHF’s Lake Placid season, and not in a positive way.

Watching the first season of the PWHL on YouTube was one thing. It was the inaugural season, things were scrambled together and it's understandable that there wasn't time to get a bigger broadcast deal. There were some games (in the U.S.) on MSG Networks and NESN, same as this season. But going into the sophomore season, I wanted more in the U.S. I was hoping for ESPN or TNT or another linear TV network to pick up the games, even if it was on ESPN2. Instead, we got YouTube - and now, just a few games into the season, an unannounced switch to Twitch, at least for a weekend.

This feels like something that needed to be worked out from the start of the season, as a quick switch or bouncing from YouTube to Twitch is not ideal. Per Jared Book, Twitch is better at promoting live events than YouTube, so perhaps the numbers will be there eventually if the PWHL stays.

Personally, I'd love to see the viewership numbers from the first few games on YouTube, compared to these games on Twitch. More than anything, I'd love a consistent broadcast/streaming partner in the United States on a national level and an actual announcement from the league on the future plans. (And while we're at it, can we talk revenue sharing for the players?)

With the PWHL heading into a break now, the league has a bit of time to sort things out before its next games. This league is producing great hockey early in the season, but to help hook new fans and viewers, there needs to be consistency. It needs to be easy for people to find and watch games. Here's to hoping they do just that, and perhaps there can be a full-time, national TV broadcast partnership going forward at some point.