ESPN2's ManningCast isn't taking much of a chunk out of Monday Night Football's main broadcast

NBC Sports

About 1.575 million watched Peyton and Eli Manning on Monday watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' blowout of the New York Giants, a slight increase from last week and about 13% of the MNF total audience of 12 million. The ManningCast has yet to surpass 2 million viewers after hitting a high on Nov. 1 of 1.956 million. "Although the Peyton and Eli show has been well received by the media, it’s still not taking much of a chunk out of the primary broadcast," says Mike Florio of NBC Sports' ProFootballTalk. "The simulcast is very entertaining; however, the game becomes an afterthought at times, especially when they have guests join the conversation. Here’s the real question. Does the cost justify the benefit? To know that, we’d need to know how much they’re paying the Mannings. Our guess? Plenty. Given that most if not all of the 1.575 million who watched ESPN2 last night would have been watching the game on ESPN, it’s fair to wonder whether the bean counters think that the beans going out outweigh the beans coming in."