ManningCast dips to 661,000 viewers for Week 2

Published September 25, 2026 10:53 AM Week 1 was bad. Week 2 was worse.The ManningCast audience keeps shrinking. For the Broncos-Chiefs game to start the season, 705,000 of 23.2 million viewers watched the alternate broadcast on ESPN featuring Peyton and Eli Manning.Via Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, the Giants-Rams Week 2 audience dipped to 661,000. The total broadcast generated 19.4 million.The only good news is that the percentage of ManningCast viewership moved from three percent in Week 1 to 3.4 percent in Week 2.No ManningCast is on the docket for the Eagles-Bears game in Week 3. The possibility of a Pat McAfee alternate broadcast has been mentioned, subject to league approval. There has been no further word on whether it will happen.If it does, the bar has been set. If a McAfeeFest gets to seven figures (which the ManningCast once did, consistently), that will be a bad look for the Peyton and Eli show, which continues to experience a disconnect between the industry’s view of it and the audience’s response to it.