NFL Draft viewership went in opposite directions on ESPN and NFL Network.
First round coverage of the 2016 NFL Draft earned a combined 8.3 million viewers across ESPN and NFL Network Thursday night, down 6% from last year (8.8M), down a third from the record-setting levels of 2014 (12.4M), and the smallest combined audience for round one since 2013 (7.7M).
ESPN had 6.3 million viewers for its coverage, down 10% from last year (7.0M), down 37% from 2014 (9.9M), and the network’s smallest night one audience since 2013 (6.2M). NFL Network had 2.0 million, actually up 12% from last year (1.8M) but down 16% from ’14 (2.4M).
As should be no surprise, the draft trounced competing coverage of the Hawks/Celtics NBA playoff game on TNT (1.9M) and the Penguins/Capitals NHL playoff game on NBCSN (1.5M). Going back further, it topped all-but-one game from the current NBA and NHL seasons — behind only the NBA’s Cavaliers/Warriors Christmas Day game (11.2M).
In adults 18-49, its combined rating of 3.6 eclipsed everything else on television — edging second-place finisher The Big Bang Theory on CBS (3.4).
(Thu. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
