Disney Shares Take a Dive as ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’ Ratings Tank

Checking in on the Tragic Kingdom…

The Walt Disney Co. is bracing for a long, ugly brawl with Google-owned YouTube TV over carriage fees — a fight that’s rattling investors and sent Disney stock crashing more than 9%.

The blackout is already taking a bite out of the Mouse House’s TV business. ABC’s ratings slipped hard, and for the first time in months, World News Tonight with David Muir lost the all-important 25-54 demo to NBC.

Disney’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings poured salt on the wound: profits in its linear TV division — home of ABC — fell 21% year-over-year to $391 million.

Disney CFO Hugh Johnston tried to calm nerves on CNBC, insisting the company “built a hedge” into its forecasts to account for a prolonged standoff.

“We’re ready to go as long as they want to,” Johnston said.

Wall Street wasn’t soothed. Disney reported $22.46 billion in revenue — missing expectations — while operating income slid 5% to $3.48 billion.

And the ratings hit kept coming. For the week ending Nov. 7, NBC Nightly News beat World News Tonight in the key demo for just the second time this year, drawing 929,000 viewers to ABC’s 883,000, per Nielsen.

The slump coincides with Disney’s bitter contract feud with YouTube TV, which blacked out ABC and ESPN for 10 million subscribers.

Even so, ABC’s David Muir still led in total viewers — pulling in more than half a million more than NBC.

Networks, including ABC, have “retitled” certain broadcasts to keep atypical airings from skewing the averages, Variety noted.

And the financial hemorrhaging is real: analysts estimate the YouTube TV blackout, which began Oct. 30, is costing Disney $30 million a week — roughly $4.3 million a day.

More over at The New York Post:

Disney shares plunge 9% as ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’ ratings tank amid YouTube TV dispute https://t.co/mQnf2poMhf pic.twitter.com/1BwskCvcHk

— New York Post (@nypost) November 13, 2025