The ongoing battle between corporate behemoths — with millions of consumers caught in the crossfire — has exposed one very important reality.
Both Google and Disney have less self-awareness than Michael Scott.
On Monday night, as the carriage dispute that has kept all Disney-owned channels off YouTube TV extended to a second Monday night game, Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared on ESPN2’s ManningCast. The show often has guests that true football fans don’t want or need to hear from. (Then again, true football fans prefer to just watch the damn game.) If there were a list of all-time ManningCast guests that didn’t fit the mission, Bob Iger would be No. 1.
Making the clunky decision even more awkward was the failure of Iger to even mention the woolly mammoth in the man cave — that the numbers for the alternate broadcast (which is far more of a vanity play than a ratings magnet) will be far lower than usual because ESPN2 currently isn’t available on YouTube TV.
Iger, who was attending the Eagles-Packers game at Lambeau Field, wasn’t asked about the current dispute. It makes the entire decision to have him on the show seem every more bizarre. And it’s just the latest P.R. misstep by ESPN in the blackout that started on Halloween.
The good news is that there was no propaganda. The bad news is that there was nothing at all uttered about the biggest ongoing story in sports.
What was the goal? To humanize Iger? To make consumers think, “This is just another regular-guy football fan, like the rest of us”? The consumers care about one thing: Restoring their ability to watch football quickly and easily. Without finding a workaround. Without buying an antenna. Without having to affirmatively click a button to get back the money they’ve already paid for the networks they currently don’t have access to.
Most consumers would react to Iger’s presence on the show by asking a simple question. Why was he attending a football game when he could have been (and should have been) trying to restore the Disney-owned channels to YouTube TV?
The only message anyone cares about at this point is this one: “We’re working around the clock to resolve this dispute.” Other than a Saturday report that the two sides were negotiating, there has been no tangible evidence that Disney or Google are even trying to end this.
They don’t care about the consumers. We’re just numbers to them. Numbers and dollars. They don’t care if we can easily watch the games. They don’t care if we’re upset. They don’t care about anything but money, power, and ego.
Last night’s appearance by Iger on the ManningCast was a microcosm of the current disconnect between those who pull the strings and those whose chains are getting jerked. Right now, the vast majority of the folks reading this are getting their chains jerked, in multiple ways and in various directions.
As long as we happily take it, the chain will keep getting jerked.
