Russell Wilson’s return to Seattle pulls in 19.845 million viewers – ProFootballTalk

A fantastic matchup with an ideal storyline culminating in an ideal recreation leads to (await it) nice scores.

Monday’s recreation between the Broncos and Seahawks, that includes quarterback Russell Wilson‘s return to Seattle in his very first recreation with a brand new crew, generated a complete viewers of 19.845 million.

That determine consists of all viewers on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 (the ManningCast), ESPN+, and ESPN Deportes.

It was the third greatest viewers throughout ESPN’s possession of the rights to the Monday night time recreation. The opposite two contests (Packers at Vikings in 2009, 21.838 million; Saints at Patriots, in 2009, 21.4 million) have been televised solely on ESPN. Final night time’s recreation was simulcast on ESPN, ABC, and ESPN2.

The ManningCast accounted for 1.5 million of these viewers, or 7.5 p.c of the overall viewers. The viewers for the ManningCast represented what ESPN known as a “staggering” 86-percent improve over the debut in 2021.

Final yr, the Week One Manning Brothers viewers of 800,000 shot to 1.532 million for Week Two. This yr, they’ll return for Week Three’s recreation between the Giants and Dak-less Cowboys.

In Week Two, ESPN and ABC have an overlapping double-header, with Titans-Payments beginning at 7:15 p.m. ET on ESPN and Vikings-Eagles at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

On behalf of the various NFL followers who would like to give attention to one recreation at a time in prime time, right here’s a easy query: Why?