A low-profile NBA Draft still delivered a healthy audience Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s opening round of the NBA Draft averaged 4.41 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, up 18% from last year’s full, single-night draft, which included both rounds (3.74M). Looking solely at first round viewership, this year’s audience declined 11% from 4.93 million last year but increased 11% from 3.99 million in 2022.
The NBA for the first time this season has split the draft across two days, with the second round taking place Thursday afternoon.
Viewership peaked at 5.5 million, down 10% from last year’s peak of 6.1 million. The Draft won the night in viewership and the key young adult demographics.
There was considerably less interest in this year’s draft class as compared to a year ago, when Victor Wembanyama was selected first overall. In fact, this year’s draft class is considered one of the weakest in recent memory, with arguably the highest-profile prospect being Bronny James — who as expected went undrafted Wednesday night.
The opening round delivered the third-largest draft audience of the year, trailing only the first two nights of the NFL Draft in April (11.63 and 5.05 million respectively). The WNBA Draft, which surged to a record audience this year with Caitlin Clark picked first overall, averaged 2.45 million on ESPN alone. No other sports draft over the past year has cracked the million viewer mark.
