(Reuters) -Alphabet’s YouTube has hired long-time Walt Disney executive Justin Connolly to serve as its global head of media and sports, the company said on Thursday, as the video service pushes further into sports and traditional media.

Connolly will manage the platform’s relationships with major media companies as well as take charge of the company’s growing live-sports portfolio, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The popular video sharing platform has been aggressively pursuing live sports for the past few years, alongside competitors such as Netflix and Amazon, in a bid to take advantage of its massive user base and large sports audience.

YouTube inked a $14 billion NFL streaming deal in 2022, which enables it to stream big football matches, while Amazon and other media firms also rushed to secure big sports streaming deals.

The platform has also expanded beyond traditional video sharing and into live TV, music and podcasts, and generates billions in advertising revenue from its vast content reserves.

Connolly spent over two decades at ESPN and Disney and exited his role as head of platform distribution earlier this week as Disney gears up to launch its ESPN sports streaming platform.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)