Featuring a highly-touted rookie class, the NBA Draft scored a solid viewership bump.
Tuesday’s opening round of the NBA Draft averaged 4.2 million viewers on ESPN and ABC, up 10% from last year, when Cooper Flagg was picked first overall (3.8M). In the six years since ABC began simulcasting the first round of Draft in 2021, this year’s opening round audience ranks third behind 2023 — when Victor Wembanyama was picked first overall (4.9M) — and 2024, when Bronny James was the highest-profile prospect (4.4M).
Viewership peaked at 5.5 million in the 8:15 PM ET quarter-hour — around the time AJ Dybantsa was picked first overall by Washington — up from last year’s peak of 5.16 million during the same time period.
Note that changes in Nielsen methodology — specifically its shift to a new methodology that integrates “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel — could account for much of the year-over-year gain.
This year’s draft class was widely considered one of the strongest in recent memory, though none of the prospects carried as high a profile as Flagg last year or Wembanyama in 2023 (or even James in 2024, considering his famous father). Even so, there was clearly some anticipation going in. Beyond the increase for the draft itself, last month’s Draft Lottery increased 23% to 2.3 million (albeit returning to ABC after airing on ESPN last year).
The NBA Draft continues to occupy its perennial position as a distant second behind its NFL equivalent, which averaged an opening round audience of 13.2 million in April (12.9 million per Nielsen, plus additional data from Adobe Analytics and social media platforms). Only one other sports draft ranks in the million viewer range, with the single-night WNBA Draft averaging 1.50 million.
The NBA Draft brings to a close a successful season for the NBA, which in the first year of its new media rights deal had its most-watched regular season since 2012-13, most-watched All-Star Game (aided by an Olympic lead-in) since 2011, most-watched conference final series since 2002, most-watched Finals since 1998, and most-watched playoffs as a whole since 1998.
