Advertisers are stuck in the middle of the Disney-YouTube TV showdown, and they want answers

• The Disney blackout on YouTube TV drags on.
• Advertisers are counting on sports, such as the NFL and college football, to reach big audiences.
• Ad buyers said Disney hasn’t disclosed details about any compensation if ratings fall short.

If you’re worried about missing another “Monday Night Football,” you aren’t the only one. Advertisers tell Business Insider they’re also starting to get antsy about the fight between Disney and YouTube TV.

Disney channels have been blacked out on YouTube TV for a week because of a dispute over how much the Google-owned TV service is prepared to pay to carry ABC, ESPN, and the media giant’s other networks. Disney claims that YouTube TV isn’t assigning a fair value to its content, while YouTube argues that paying higher rates would force it to raise prices for its customers.

Stuck in the middle of the showdown are advertisers who are banking on shows like “Monday Night Football,” which airs on ABC and ESPN, as well as college football, and ABC’s slate of popular dramas and reality shows, to ensure their campaigns reach big audiences going into the busy holiday shopping period.

“While a couple of days might not hurt people, a couple of weeks could, especially coming into the end of the year,” said Tim Lathrop, a vice president at the media agency Mediassociates.

With Disney’s channels switched off for YouTube TV’s roughly 10 million subscribers, the Mouse House might not be able to deliver on the audiences it had guaranteed to advertisers.

Four ad buyers told Business Insider that Disney had yet to provide any details as of Friday about potential compensation plans.

“Shockingly little response or urgency from Disney sales,” said one of the ad buyers, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive business issue.

Disney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The timing of the Disney-YouTube TV spat isn’t ideal. Another slate of college games kicks off this weekend, and this week’s “Monday Night Football” is a juicy match-up between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles.

“There’s a big Saturday to Monday window,” a second ad buyer said of Disney sports programming that’s attractive to advertisers. “I think every week that happens, everyone’s going to be paying closer attention.”

This past weekend, ratings for ABC and ESPN’s primetime college football game came in below the season average, per the measurement company Nielsen. However, the game aired at the same time as Game 7 of the World Series, which drew a huge audience for Fox. “Monday Night Football” viewership on ABC and ESPN was also below average, though the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys matchup wasn’t necessarily a must-watch fixture.

With fourth-quarter ad budgets in full flight, sports inventory is already oversubscribed, and ad prices are elevated, said Ashley Silver, group director of integrated investment at the media agency Crossmedia.

“Buyers have fewer viable alternatives, which means lost reach in this window is materially harder and more expensive to replace than usual,” Silver said.

When TV networks fail to reach the viewer numbers they promise, they typically compensate advertisers with what’s known as audience deficiency units, or ADUs — extra ad slots provided at no cost to make up for the shortfall. ADUs usually result from ratings shortfalls, technical glitches, or other unforeseen issues. Two ad buyers said that advertisers typically don’t get specifics on ADU compensation until carriage disputes are resolved.

Ad buyers said that the urgency for answers from Disney will intensify the longer the dispute rumbles on. The longest TV blackout in the modern era was a carriage dispute between HBO and Dish that kept the premium cable channel off the service for nearly three years, from 2018 to 2021.