Days after one much-hyped prospect boosted the NBA Draft to a record-high, another heralded newcomer did the same for the NHL.
Wednesday’s opening round of the NHL Draft averaged 0.38 rating and 681,000 viewers on ESPN, marking the largest audience on record for the event and a nearly 50 percent increase over the previous high set last year (473K). During its run on NBCSN, the Draft never averaged more than 374,000 (2016).
Viewership peaked at 903,000 in the first quarter-hour, when much-hyped prospect Connor Bedard was drafted #1 by the Blackhawks.
The record audience for the Draft followed another viewership record for the NHL Draft Lottery last month, which averaged 658,000 on ESPN preceding a Stanley Cup playoff game.
Versus other comparable events, the NHL Draft trailed its Major League Baseball counterpart last July (780K) and was of course no match for the NBA a week earlier (3.74M) or NFL in April (6.0M across three days). It did outdraw the WNBA Draft on ESPN in April (572K).
Compared to actual NHL games, the Draft would have ranked fifth out of the 27 windows on ESPN or ESPN2 this past regular season.
In other offseason NHL action, Monday’s NHL Awards averaged 274,000 viewers on TNT — up 11% from last year’s edition on ESPN (247K) and the largest audience for the event since 2017, when it doubled as an expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights (595K). Excluding that circumstance, it was the most-watched since at least 2014. (Keep in mind the NHL Awards were not held as a live, standalone show in the COVID-affected years of 2020 or 2021.)
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 6.29, ShowBuzz Daily 6.27, 6.29, ESPN PR)
