After the three-week break, the Manningcast dipped to 1.61 million viewers for the Saints-Seahawks game. On Monday night, however, it generated its biggest audience yet.
An average viewership of 1.96 million tuned in for the alternate telecast of Giants-Chiefs. With a full ESPN audience of 13.99 million, the Manningcast accounted for 14 percent of the total audience.
In Week Seven, the Manningcast’s 1.61 million viewers accounted for 12.4 percent of the total crowd.
The Mannings will be off for Bears-Steelers in Week Nine, but they’ll return for Rams-49ers in Week 10 and Giants-Bucs in Week 11.
Speaking of the Giants, Sports Business Daily noted that Eli avoided criticizing the Giants on Monday night. And for good reason. Beyond spending his full career with the Giants, he now works for the team. It’s fair to ask, frankly, whether Eli’s current employment connection to the Giants should be disclosed repeatedly when the Mannings do a Giants game. While most fans know he played for the team, not nearly as many know he’s currently getting a paycheck from them.
Finally, it’s fair to wonder whether some who are watching the Mannings otherwise wouldn’t watch the game. If so, they’re adding to the total audience.
Here’s another way they’re helping. Some may be watching both. The Manningcast distracts me from watching the game, so I focus on the main broadcast live and then, on Tuesday morning, I play the Manningcast while working on PFT. So ESPN and its advertisers are getting six hours from me when they otherwise would be getting only three.