The first round of the NFL Draft dominated sports viewing for Thursday, April 25.
Thursday’s opening round of the NFL Draft averaged a combined 11.66 million viewers across ESPN (5.56M), ABC (4.51M), NFL Network (1.56M) and ESPN Deportes (24K), marking the most-watched night of the Draft in three years. As goes without saying, the Draft was the most-watched television program of the day. For more on NFL Draft ratings, see the preceding link.
Beyond the Draft, Nuggets-Lakers Game 3 led the night in the NBA with 3.52 million across TNT (3.34M) and truTV (182K) — down 14% from Kings-Warriors last year, which did not face Draft coverage (4.12M). Denver’s win was the most-watched game on night one of the NFL Draft since Clippers-Spurs Game 6 in 2015 (3.88M).
Knicks-Sixers Game 3 led in with 2.62 million (TNT: 2.57M; truTV: 52K), down 15% from Sixers-Nets a year ago, which again did not face the Draft (3.08M). (Compared to Celtics-Hawks Game 6 opposite the Draft last year, viewership declined 12% from 2.98 million.) Rounding out the day’s NBA slate, Orlando’s rout of Cleveland averaged 252,000 — down nearly half from Suns-Clippers in a later window last year (478K).
Through Thursday, NBA playoff games were averaging 3.01 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and truTV — down 9% from the same point last year (3.29M).
In the NHL, Panthers-Lightning Game 3 averaged 569,000 viewers on TBS — down 25% from Rangers-Devils Game 2 last year (757K). The competing Hurricanes-Islanders Game 3 drew 435,000 on ESPN2, down 41% from Lightning-Maple Leafs Game 2 on ESPN a year ago (733K). As with the NBA, last year’s games did not face Draft coverage.
Further down the dial, the opening round of the PGA Tour New Orleans tournament averaged 289,000 — down slightly from last year’s 293,000. A primetime A’s-Yankees Major League Baseball game drew 256,000 on MLB Network, preceded by a pair of afternoon regional windows at 104,000 and 153,000. A Manchester City-Brighton English Premier League match drew 253,000 on USA Network.
On the morning of the NFL Draft and a Lakers playoff game, the Fox Sports 1 talk show “Undisputed” averaged just 45,000 viewers, its second-smallest audience since returning from hiatus last fall.
Thursday, April 25 sports ratings
Updated chart:
Original chart below:
