Last Thursday, all Disney networks—including ESPN and its family of networks—were pulled from YouTube TV after Disney and Google were unable to reach a long-term deal.
The impact on ESPN has been immediate.
As SI’s Jimmy Traina writes, “This week’s Monday Night Football game featuring the Cardinals and Cowboys drew 16.1 million viewers, a stunningly low number considering the presence of Dallas, which draws ratings no matter what.
“The previous week’s game between the Commanders and Chiefs drew 17.6 million viewers. The week before that, the Bucs and Lions delivered 18.8 million viewers. And as a year-over-year comp, last year’s Week 9 Monday Night Football game (Buccaneers at Chiefs) pulled in 20.6 million.”
The YouTube TV blackout didn’t just affect ESPN’s NFL coverage; its college slate also took a hit.
As Traina reports:
In addition, Traina writes that ESPN’s College Gameday show lost 500,000 viewers from the previous week.
It’s unlikely the carriage dispute will be resolved by this weekend. So, there is a high likelihood that ESPN’s ratings will continue to fall. However, given these numbers and the fact that both the NFL and college football are entering the most critical parts of their seasons, it’s unlikely Disney will allow this to continue much longer.
Breitbart News
Read the full article .
