How do fans feel about the YouTube TV-ESPN standoff? We asked 8,000 of them – The New York Times

Sports Business
Will YouTube TV subscribers have ESPN access in time for Monday night's Eagles-Packers game? Mitchell Leff / Getty Images
In the absence of a deal in the next 24 hours, the 10 million or so fans who subscribe to YouTube TV will not have access to ESPN’s college football games, from a Top 10 showdown between BYU and Texas Tech at noon ET to the classic LSU-Alabama game in primetime.
During the lull between this most recent “Monday Night Football” game that YouTube TV didn’t carry and Saturday’s slate, The Athletic surveyed fans how they felt about a range of issues related to the standoff, including the “blame game” and the game they think might finally end the impasse.
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A few key caveats:
• The survey field is more than 8,000 fans (many of whom took the poll through a link in The Pulse newsletter), but this is not a statistically rigorous polling process in part because it is not a representative sample of a larger group.
• A poll that has “YouTube TV” in the title is going to inevitably self-select a lot of YouTube TV subscribers as participants. In this case, 81% of respondents identified as YouTube TV subscribers.
• Why does that matter? Well, people who subscribe to YouTube TV are potentially oriented to be frustrated that they can’t watch ESPN through their systems, and that frustration might manifest itself in their answers.
• Let’s simply describe the results as directionally thought-provoking, rather than determinative.
If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, who do you blame?
64% ESPN/Disney
28% Equal
8% YouTube TV
If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, have you canceled?
60% Either considering it (56%) or have canceled (4%)
40% Not considering canceling
If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, have you purchased other access during the interruption?
82% No
18% Yes
If yes, what have you purchased?
56% Another multi-channel streaming service
32% ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service
8% DirecTV
3% Cable
When do you predict access will be restored?
55% “Not sure”
Of the 45% who did predict a specific upcoming date by which service will be restored, they chose out of a list of the following four choices:
36% Saturday, Nov. 15 (no college football this weekend, no Eagles-Packers on Monday)
28% Monday, Nov. 10 (no CFB this weekend, yes Eagles-Packers)
22% Saturday, Nov. 8 (A deal in the next 24 hours)
14% Monday, Nov. 17 (no CFB this weekend OR next weekend, no Eagles-Packers on Monday, yes Cowboys-Raiders a week from Monday)
Do you feel like you understand the issues behind the impasse?
81% “Pretty well” or “Sort of?”
14% “Not really”
4% “Not at all”
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Who has made the more persuasive case to fans in their public messaging?
48% Neither
29% YouTube TV
16% Hadn’t noticed
6% ESPN/Disney
Of the group that had noticed any messaging:
58% Neither were more persuasive
35% YouTube TV more persuasive
7% ESPN/Disney more persuasive
Do you find the YouTube TV on-screen messaging persuasive?
41% of the respondents said they had not seen any YouTube TV on-screen messaging, but of the sample that had seen it, 82% said “not persuasive.”
Do you find the ESPN on-air talent social media messaging persuasive?
40% of respondents said they had not seen any ESPN on-air talent messaging, but of the sample that had seen it, 94% said “not persuasive.”
A couple of directionally thought-provoking conclusions:
• It isn’t surprising that a poll with a vast majority of YouTube TV subscribers will blame ESPN, not YouTube TV, for the current issue.
• ESPN possibly would have been better off not engaging its on-air talent to post.
• YouTube TV’s easy cancellation process (certainly when compared to cable) is a feature not a bug, and fans seem comfortable going from one multi-channel streaming service to another.
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Dan Shanoff is a Managing Editor for The Athletic, focused on Sports Business. Before joining The Athletic, he held editorial and content-development roles at a range of companies including ESPN, USA Today Sports, Monumental and Quickish, a sports-news start-up he founded. He is a graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, has an MBA from Harvard Business School and was an award-winning adjunct instructor in Georgetown’s Sports Industry Management program. Follow Dan on Twitter @danshanoff

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