Not only is ESPN losing a significant amount of money every day it’s not on YouTube TV, but it also appears they’re losing viewers.
It’s been nearly two years since Disney removed their networks, including ESPN, from YouTube TV amid a dispute over carriage fees.
“Unfortunately, Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny their subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC. Without a new agreement in place, their subscribers will not have access to our programming, which includes the best lineup in live sports — anchored by the NFL, NBA, and college football, with 13 of the top 25 college teams playing this weekend.
“With a $3 trillion market cap, Google is using its market dominance to eliminate competition and undercut the industry-standard terms we’ve successfully negotiated with every other distributor. We know how frustrating this is for YouTube TV subscribers and remain committed to working toward a resolution as quickly as possible.”
ESPN was off YouTube TV for college football Saturday, and Monday Night Football and analysts noticed a dip in ratings for both.
ESPN’s College GameDay had 2.5 million viewers of the show prior to Disney deal expiring with YouTubeTV.
Show after had 2 million viewers.
Matchup dependent, but SEC on ABC TV windows prior to YTTV spat had 6.6m, 7.8m and 6.8m viewers.
After: 4.5m, 7.8m, 4.8m.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 5, 2025
Monday Night’s Cardinals-Cowboys game averaged 16.2 million viewers, which was down over 20 percent from last year’s Bucs-Chiefs game that averaged 20.6 million.
Even without the Nielsen Big Data + Panel bump, Bucs-Chiefs in Week 9 2024 averaged 20.6 million. That makes this year’s Week 9 audience a 21.4-percent reduction from Week 9 a year ago.
According to Awful Announcing, ESPN is possibly losing $5 million/day in revenue while its networks are not on YouTube TV.
It’ll be interesting to see if ESPN stops the bleeding, or if they continue they’re dispute with YouTube TV for another week.