ESPN’s ‘ManningCast’ – the alternate telecast of ‘Monday Night Football’ featuring live commentary from Peyton and Eli Manning, as well as guests – hit an all-time ratings low in just the first week of the NFL season.
The 2024 season debut of the show hit the all-time low of 872,000 viewers, according to Sports Business Daily.
The alternate broadcast had been flirting with dipping below one million viewers.
This comes at time in the United States where ESPN is currently in a carriage dispute with satellite television provider DirecTV – which has not been providing ESPN’s coverage to their customers for over two weeks.
These numbers constitute a 43-percent drop from Week 1 of the 2023 season and represents only 4.2 percent of the total audience of 20.5million viewers.
The ‘ManningCast’ – featuring brothers Peyton and Eli Manning – hit an all-time ratings low
Not even the addition of Bill Belichick to the broadcast seemed to attract viewership
This edition of the ‘ManningCast’ served as the debut of Bill Belichick – but even a guaranteed appearance from the eight-time Super Bowl champion didn’t move the needle for viewers.
As for the game itself, the New York Jets fell to the reigning NFC champion San Francisco 49ers in California on Monday evening.
It marked a return to the game for Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but he finished the game completing only 13 passes for 167 yards with one touchdown and an interception.
San Francisco was led by running back Jordan Mason, who was named the starter over Christian McCaffery on the day of the contest.
Mason rushed 28 times for 147 yards and a touchdown in the victory.