• by Wayne Friedman , August 17, 2017

YouTube TV, the new live streaming TV service, is now available in 50% of U.S. homes. It has added 14 markets to its existing 15 major markets.

The 14 new markets include Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, Jacksonville-Brunswick, Las Vegas, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Seattle-Tacoma, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota and West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce.

Since its launch in April, YouTube TV says over half of its viewership come from 18- to-34-year-old millennials -- much younger than for traditional TV, where over half its audience is over 49 years old.

Earlier this year, YouTube TV launched in five markets — New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago and Philadelphia — before expanding into an additional 10: Washington, DC, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Charlotte and Dallas-Fort Worth.

YouTube TV says another 17 markets are coming as well -- bringing the total to 46 -- and announced that it added two new networks to its lineup: Newsy and Tennis Channel.

YouTube now has over 50 networks, including live local feeds from ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, as well as some big cable networks: ESPN, AMC and FX, and local sports networks from NBC Sports in 13 markets, Fox Sports in 22 markets and NESN in Boston. 

YouTube TV is competing in a rapidly evolving space of services with live, linear TV networks that include Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and Hulu with Live TV. 

Also on Thursday, Hulu announced that it has added three Fox TV affiliate stations to its live TV service, which now has a total of 201 networks/stations.