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How bad is ABC/ESPN suffering?… the actual numbers
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:31 am
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:31 am
ESPN College Gameday was averaging 2.8 million viewers per week during Weeks 1-9 of the season.
Week 10 drew just 2.0 million… down 28.3% from the previous 9-week average.
Week 11 viewership must be terrible because the @ ESPNPR account that tweets out the ratings every single week by Tuesday or Wednesday is yet to make a post. My guess is ratings have fallen below 2 million which would be a new low for the entire season… beating out last week which was the previous low.
As for the actual games themselves…
Total Combined Viewership for all Saturday games each week on ABC/ESPN (does not include ESPN 2, U, etc) by week:
Week 1- 27.8
Week 2- 22.5
Week 3- 29.0
Week 4- 22.3
Week 5- 29.3
Week 6- 24.4
Week 7- 29.8
Week 8- 31.1
Week 9- 28.0
—— (YouTube dispute begins)——-
Week 10- 22.5
Week 11- 20.6
Week 10 total viewership was down 17% from the previous 9-week average. It was blamed for being head-to-head with the World Series… okay.
Week 11 total viewership was down 24% from the first 9-week average. There’s no explanation for such a terrible number other than this dispute with YouTube is costing them millions of viewers.
If there is another bad week of ratings this week, I don’t see how ESPN can continue this thing. Through 9 weeks, ABC/ESPN was enjoying record viewership. They were cumulatively up 16.8% for the year over the first 9 weeks of the 2024 season. It seemed all but certain they’d close this season setting regular season viewership records. They still might, but two weeks later, they’ve gone from +16.8% over last season to +12.8%. If they have another week with viewership like the last two weeks, their season viewership will drop further to just +10.5% compared to last season.
Week 10 drew just 2.0 million… down 28.3% from the previous 9-week average.
Week 11 viewership must be terrible because the @ ESPNPR account that tweets out the ratings every single week by Tuesday or Wednesday is yet to make a post. My guess is ratings have fallen below 2 million which would be a new low for the entire season… beating out last week which was the previous low.
As for the actual games themselves…
Total Combined Viewership for all Saturday games each week on ABC/ESPN (does not include ESPN 2, U, etc) by week:
Week 1- 27.8
Week 2- 22.5
Week 3- 29.0
Week 4- 22.3
Week 5- 29.3
Week 6- 24.4
Week 7- 29.8
Week 8- 31.1
Week 9- 28.0
—— (YouTube dispute begins)——-
Week 10- 22.5
Week 11- 20.6
Week 10 total viewership was down 17% from the previous 9-week average. It was blamed for being head-to-head with the World Series… okay.
Week 11 total viewership was down 24% from the first 9-week average. There’s no explanation for such a terrible number other than this dispute with YouTube is costing them millions of viewers.
If there is another bad week of ratings this week, I don’t see how ESPN can continue this thing. Through 9 weeks, ABC/ESPN was enjoying record viewership. They were cumulatively up 16.8% for the year over the first 9 weeks of the 2024 season. It seemed all but certain they’d close this season setting regular season viewership records. They still might, but two weeks later, they’ve gone from +16.8% over last season to +12.8%. If they have another week with viewership like the last two weeks, their season viewership will drop further to just +10.5% compared to last season.
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Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:33 am to AUTiger789
YouTube should have allowed the illegal streams, millions of us bought Sling for $5/day to watch the games.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:34 am to AtlantaLSUfan
quote:
YouTube should have allowed the illegal streams
They don't police it very strongly, you can find any game on there.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:35 am to AUTiger789
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:36 am to AtlantaLSUfan
Yeah I signed up for Sling on a monthly plan… I’ve been watching college basketball every night during the week, so I want access daily.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:36 am to AUTiger789
Alphabet vs. Disney?
Where do I put money on the meteor?
Where do I put money on the meteor?
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:37 am to AUTiger789
Disney is a bully
The problem is they ran into a bigger bully
The problem is they ran into a bigger bully
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:42 am to AUTiger789
No way espn and YouTube go past Friday with two of the biggest games of season on this weekend .
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:43 am to jonnyanony
quote:
They don't police it very strongly, you can find any game on there.
2 weeks ago after the UGA/UF game I got back to my AirBNB and wanted to watch OU/UK and UK/AU. The only option on the TV in there was regular youtube so I searched every combination you can think of to watch a CFB stream, and almost without fail every friggin channel, regardless of what it was labeled or the graphic on the preview, was just the colorado game or the ga tech game. Annoying as hell
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:43 am to Buckeye06
quote:
Disney is a bully
The problem is they ran into a bigger bully
Disney has “frick you” money.
Alphabet prints “frick you” money on a daily basis.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:43 am to AUTiger789
Have Pat tone it down a little.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 11:45 am to WG_Dawg
I would say since this happened they have been policing it much more strictly for obvious reasons
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:00 pm to AUTiger789
It's because LSU is broke
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:01 pm to AUTiger789
Prayers up!
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:10 pm to AUTiger789
College football had tremendous value given to it by the fans. But without a commissioner there is no one who cares about protecting the goodwill built up over a century.
Not everyone is a hardcore fan. If things aren’t on TV they will find other things to do and may never return. That’s how I stopped watching baseball in the 90s.
Disney is cutting open the goose that lays the golden eggs because it isn’t their goose anyway. If they want to monopolize the streaming services with ESPN access, they will do it. The sport may lose 20% of the fans. That doesn’t concern them. They’ll just make up for that by charging the remaining people 25% more.
Not everyone is a hardcore fan. If things aren’t on TV they will find other things to do and may never return. That’s how I stopped watching baseball in the 90s.
Disney is cutting open the goose that lays the golden eggs because it isn’t their goose anyway. If they want to monopolize the streaming services with ESPN access, they will do it. The sport may lose 20% of the fans. That doesn’t concern them. They’ll just make up for that by charging the remaining people 25% more.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:16 pm to AUTiger789
I expect a deal will get done soon. Lots of big games this weekend as the playoffs l, that Disney owns, start to take shape.
Also the FCC chairmen pushing for an agreement to be made is going to put a LOT of pressure on Disney. They are in questionable waters as a content provider who is using their content to unfairly compete in the distribution market as the new(ish) owners of Hulu and Fubo.
Disney doesnt want any undue attention from the FCC right now. They dont want to be forced to divest their streaming platforms of the FCC determines their ownership of them is preventing fair competition in the distribution sector.
Also, worth mentioning that I think Disney's CFO screwed up Disneys earnings call this morning when he specifically mentioned that the blackout is driving new subscribers to Disney platforms. He may come to regret those words, at a time they are already drawing the attention of the FCC.
And stockholders are responding too, Disney stock dropped about 8% today after the earnings call.
Also the FCC chairmen pushing for an agreement to be made is going to put a LOT of pressure on Disney. They are in questionable waters as a content provider who is using their content to unfairly compete in the distribution market as the new(ish) owners of Hulu and Fubo.
Disney doesnt want any undue attention from the FCC right now. They dont want to be forced to divest their streaming platforms of the FCC determines their ownership of them is preventing fair competition in the distribution sector.
Also, worth mentioning that I think Disney's CFO screwed up Disneys earnings call this morning when he specifically mentioned that the blackout is driving new subscribers to Disney platforms. He may come to regret those words, at a time they are already drawing the attention of the FCC.
And stockholders are responding too, Disney stock dropped about 8% today after the earnings call.
This post was edited on 11/13/25 at 12:34 pm
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:18 pm to AUTiger789
This is the second thread in 2 days trying to convince us that ESPN/ABC is doing bad, all because the marquee game last weekend was Texas Tech/BYU. Grok just told me that ESPN/ABC's ratings are up 71 percent this year compared to 2023. What are the point of these threads, and will there be follow-up threads after Georgia/Texas does 12-13 million this weekend?
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:28 pm to AUTiger789
That's a lot of numbers... but it's missing a lot of context.
Week 10 and 11 were the only two weeks of gameday that didn't have any teams from the SEC or Big 10.
Week 11 was BYU vs TT. (20.6)
Week 10 was Cincy and Utah. (22.5)
Only one other week had ONE team from a conference other than the Big 10 or SEC. That was Week 4 where Florida played Miami (ACC). (22.3)
Instead of looking at some youtube dispute as the cause... maybe it's simpler to just look at the fact that people don't care as much about CFB in weeks where the "best game" is not involving two teams from the SEC and Big 10.
Week 10 and 11 were the only two weeks of gameday that didn't have any teams from the SEC or Big 10.
Week 11 was BYU vs TT. (20.6)
Week 10 was Cincy and Utah. (22.5)
Only one other week had ONE team from a conference other than the Big 10 or SEC. That was Week 4 where Florida played Miami (ACC). (22.3)
Instead of looking at some youtube dispute as the cause... maybe it's simpler to just look at the fact that people don't care as much about CFB in weeks where the "best game" is not involving two teams from the SEC and Big 10.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:33 pm to Krampus
quote:
Disney's CFO screwed up this morning when he specifically mentioned that the blackout is driving new subscribers to Disney platforms
What an idiot.
Posted on 11/13/25 at 12:36 pm to Lexis Dad
Yep. Also I just added an edit to mention that Disney stock dropped 8% this morning after that earnings call.
If I had to guess, the CFO will be out of a job soon, and well get our football back before Saturday.
If I had to guess, the CFO will be out of a job soon, and well get our football back before Saturday.
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