While we’re spending a lot of time online now that a lot of businesses are closed and events are cancelled, it also means how we consume entertainment and how we search for things may also be changing. Google is now introducing some new search results to help you discover where to watch your sporting events live, where to see TV shows that are also live, as well as pandemic-related travel information in case you’re actually planning to travel soon.
Because you won’t be able to watch sporting events in stadiums or arena anytime soon, the next best thing would be to catch sporting events live on your screen. When you search for your favorite team on Google, you can now see also where to watch their games, as well as the other things you previously could see like live scores, standings, schedules, news items, etc. For now, this is limited to NBA and MLB games but hopefully they will add more sports soon.
With on-demand streaming taking over our screens, live TV seems to have lost its magic. But for those staying at home now, there is also a renewed interest on shows that you can watch right now on your TV or live TV subscription. You will now also see live TV search results when you’re looking for ‘what to watch” or “good shows to watch. You’ll see them on the “On TV now” carousel which should cover a lot of channels with live TV. There’s also an “On TV later” section, which is pretty self-explanatory.
Meanwhile, travel has also come to a standstill these past few months but some places are starting to open up. When you search for places or destinations, you’ll see travel advisories and restrictions related to that place. You’ll also now start to see information about open hotels and available flights as people start traveling again, hopefully soon. You’ll also now see hotels and vacation rentals with refundable rates so you can be assured that if things still don’t change, you won’t be wasting your money.
Live sports and live TV results will start showing in the U.S. only for now although we hope it will eventually expand to other countries as well. The travel information should be available for everyone.
