Eagles Matchup Against Chiefs Most Watched Monday Night Football Game Since 1996
Monday night’s matchup between the Eagles and the Chiefs was the most watched Monday Night Football matchup in over 25 seasons, according to an official ESPN report.
According to ESPN’s release, more than 29 million viewers watched the game across all channels, including ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes, and NFL+ (the NFL’s own streaming service). The audience peaked at over 31 million viewers.
“The Eagles-Chiefs is the most watched telecast since the teams faced off in Super Bowl LVII,” ESPN noted in the statement.
ESPN provided multiple ways to watch the broadcast of the game. In addition to the traditional telecast featuring announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and sideline reporters Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge, the game was also featured on Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli Manning, colloquially dubbed the “ManningCast,” on ESPN2, where brothers and former quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning provided analysis of the game in real time. More than 1.9 million additional viewers tuned in to watch the Manning brothers’ analysis, which also featured actor Mark Wahlberg, Iowa Hawkeyes basketball player Caitlin Clark, and former Eagles quarterback Michael Vick as special guests.
The broadcast was the most watched Monday Night Football broadcast since the November 18, 1996 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. That matchup, which had the Packers get blown out by the Cowboys 21-6, netted 31.5 million viewers on ABC, where Monday Night Football aired prior to 2006, according to ESPN’s release. It topped the season’s Monday Night Football week 1 matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets, according to ESPN, which also set a record.
“With the record-breaking ESPN MNF audience,” ESPN said in a statement, “ESPN has now delivered its two most-watched Monday Night Football games ever during the 2023 season.”
