Copyright Athlon Sports
ESPN and YouTube TV have been involved in contract negotiations that have caused uproar from sports fans and cost tens of millions of dollars for media giants. The previous deal between Disney, ESPN’s parent company and Google, YouTube TV’s parent company, expired at the end of the day on Oct. 30. Since this expiration date, none of Disney’s catalog of channels, including ABC, ESPN, SEC Network and many others, have been available on YouTube TV. It was reported earlier this week that Disney has been losing around $5 million each day that its networks are not on YouTube TV. This means that, including Thursday, Disney has lost over $30 million from this standoff in contract talks. Disney is not the only one that has something to lose from this, as sports fans have been upset by the situation as well. These fans have missed an entire week of shows and games, including last weekend’s slate of college football matchups and “College GameDay” on Saturday. Another big matchup that was not shown on YouTube TV was the “Monday Night Football” game between the Arizona Cardinals and “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys. This presentation is one of ESPN’s biggest draws each week, but without YouTube TV viewers, the numbers took a big dip. On Wednesday, ESPN released its viewership numbers from this week’s “Monday Night Football” matchup, in which the Cardinals took down the Cowboys 27-17. The company said in a social media post from ESPN’s public relations account that the game brought in 16.2 million viewers. This number is down 21% from Week 9 of the 2024 season, which featured the Kansas City Chiefs taking down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to Yahoo Sports. This percentage means that approximately four million fewer viewers tuned into “Monday Night Football” in Week 9 this year than last season. Much of this likely has to do with YouTube TV users not being able to watch the game, which was broadcast on ABC, ESPN and ESPN 2.
