Key Points
- “Monday Night Football” lost more than 1 million viewers during the first week of Disney’s dispute with YouTube TV, per Nielsen ratings data for ESPN and ABC.
- Around 15.62 million people watched Monday Night Football on ESPN and ABC during the dispute, compared with 16.9 million who tuned in to both networks the prior week.
- Disney and YouTube owner Google are at odds over certain distribution terms, including fees paid and how ESPN is offered to YouTube TV subscribers.
An ongoing dispute between the Walt Disney Company and Google-owned streaming pay television service YouTube TV is a likely culprit behind lower total viewership figures for “Monday Night Football” during the first full week that Disney-owned channels were off the streaming service.
According to fresh data from Nielsen shared with The Desk on Wednesday, ESPN’s November 3 “Monday Night Football” telecast between the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys attracted 5.97 million viewers to the cable network and another 9.65 million viewers to ABC, which simulcast the game on its local broadcast stations and affiliates.
By comparison, the last Monday Night Football game available to YouTube TV customers on that platform was the October 27 game between the Washington Commanders and the Kansas City Chiefs, which brought 4.83 million viewers to ESPN and 12.1 million viewers to ABC stations and affiliates.
The total audience for Monday Night Football was slightly more than 16.9 million viewers on ESPN and ABC before the dispute with YouTube TV began, and 15.62 million viewers in the first week that Disney-owned networks were off the service.
Disney and YouTube TV are at odds over various terms, including how much Google should pay for the right to redistribute ABC, ESPN, FX, National Geographic, Disney Channel and Freeform to its customers. Google is also holding out for more-favorable distribution terms, including the ability to offer ESPN and ABC in a lower-priced, sports-inclusive package at some point in the future, according to reports.
As of Wednesday evening, Disney’s channels were still unavailable to YouTube TV customers. According to some estimates, YouTube TV reaches 10 million paying subscribers, though the figure was based on data evaluated before its dispute with Disney.
Some customers have taken to social media with threats to cancel their YouTube TV plan in pursuit of other streaming alternatives, including one of three Disney-owned services — Hulu with Live TV, Fubo and ESPN Unlimited — that offer ESPN’s cable multiplex.
But many more are likely streaming Monday Night Football and other live sports from ESPN on illicit streaming services, which are harder to measure and rate, since those platforms don’t have direct relationships with Disney or Nielsen.
On the cable side, ESPN’s audience uptick was likely due to fewer competitive sports airing in the same time slot as Monday Night Football. The prior week, ESPN’s game between the Commanders and the Chiefs had to contend with the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays airing at the same time on Fox. The World Series helped make Fox the most-watched TV network that week, beating ESPN by more than 12 million viewers.
Among overall networks, NBC was the most-watched broadcast or cable network during the measurement period, with 5.11 million viewers and a 1.6 share. The YouTube TV dispute didn’t hurt ABC’s overall standing, which clocked in second place with 4.58 million viewers and a 1.4 share for the week, while CBS was not too far behind with 3.79 million viewers and a 1.2 share.
Coverage of the midterm election boosted the prominence of cable news channels during the week, with Fox News topping all cable networks at 2.16 million viewers and a 0.7 share. MSNBC was in second place with 1.26 million viewers and a 0.4 share, and CNN broke into the top 10 networks ranker during the measurement period with 786,000 viewers and a solid 0.2 share.
Top-Rated Broadcast TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
NFL on Fox (4:25p ET games)
23.11 million
7.2
2
Sunday Night Football: PIT/LAC
18.59 million
5.8
3
NFL on CBS (1:05p ET games)
18.21 million
5.7
4
Football Night in America: pre-kickoff
15.46 million
4.8
5
NFL on Fox (1:05p ET games)
13.4 million
4.2
6
Football Night in America: pt.3
10.87 million
3.4
7
Monday Night Football: AZ/DAL
9.65 million
3.0
8
Tracker
7.97 million
2.5
9
60 Minutes
7.57 million
2.4
10
College football: LSU/Alabama State
7.41 million
2.3
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (November 3-9, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top-Rated Cable TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
Monday Night Football: AZ/DAL
5.97 million
1.9
2
NFL Berlin Game – ATL/IND
5.77 million
1.8
3
The Five (Nov. 3)
3.9 million
1.2
4
The Five (Nov. 4)
3.81 million
1.2
5
Monday Night Football: pre-kickoff
3.54 million
1.1
6
The Five (Nov. 5)
3.54 million
1.1
7
Jesse Watters Primetime (Nov. 4)
3.45 million
1.1
8
The Five (Nov. 7)
3.3 million
1.0
9
The Five (Nov. 6)
3.29 million
1.0
10
NFL GameDay Final
3.29 million
1.0
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (November 3-9, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top TV Networks, Prime-Time (Broadcast/Cable)
Rank
Network
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
5.11 million
1.6
2
4.58 million
1.4
3
3.79 million
1.2
4
2.16 million
0.7
5
2.08 million
0.7
6
1.66 million
0.5
7
1.26 million
0.4
8
1.08 million
0.3
9
849,000
0.3
10
