YouTube TV sees ‘manageable’ subscriber cancellations as Disney viewers drop

Ben Schoon | Nov 7 2025 - 7:20 am PT

The ongoing battle between YouTube TV and Disney continues to be a loss for everyone, as Google has confirmed there’s been “managable” subscriber churn as some users cancel their service, while Disney is also seeing a drop in live viewers.

As reported by Variety, a survey from “Drive Research” found that as many as 24% of YouTube TV subscribers have already or are considering canceling their subscription as the platform “no longer delivers the core content they signed up for.” This was based on polling just over 1,100 subscribers.

This comes as Disney channels such as ABC and ESPN have been dark on YouTube TV for a full week, missing both Election Day coverage (which YouTube says people weren’t watching on ABC anyway) and, more impactfully, ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast.

The same survey found that 30% of subscribers have also subscribed to Hulu + Live TV or ESPN Unlimited, while the channels are not available on YouTube TV, with another 22% planning to use someone else’s login to view content, and 15% admitting they’d likely pirate the content.

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Google, in a statement, called subscriber churn “managable,” implying there’s been a spike in cancellations, but nothing particularly major.

We’re not familiar with this firm and can’t speak to their credibility or methodology. What we can say is that while subscriber churn is always regrettable, it’s been manageable and does not align with the findings of this survey.

The survey also claimed that a whopping 82% of those surveyed intended to cancel their subscription in time if Disney channels did not return. Most of those surveyed either felt that Disney and Google were equally at fault for failing to reach a new deal, while 37% solely blamed Disney.

Meanwhile, Disney is also feeling the pressure.

The Hollywood Reporter cites ratings from ABC and ESPN during this first week of Disney channels being dark, and there’s a pretty clear drop. Monday Night Football dropped from its average of over 20 million viewers to around 16.37 million this week. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars also took a hit, with 6.33 million viewers in the show’s first drop in viewership in six weeks, the longest streak for a broadcast of that type in 34 years. The actual drop isn’t huge, with the prior week being 6.74 million, but it’s notable nonetheless as it’s clearly out of the ordinary. Disney said that the Disney+ stream of Dancing with the Stars was “higher than usual.”

Can all of this be attributed to YouTube TV? Probably not. THR points out that this week’s Monday Night Football game was “not especially exciting” with the Arizona Cardinals vs the Dallas Cowboys, but it’s still telling.

It remains unclear when YouTube TV and Disney will resolve their feud, if at all. Notably, Variety points out that Google’s promised $20 credit, which has yet to arrive, is a “one-time” measure rather than a continued credit while the channels are missing.