The NFL Draft shattered viewership records Thursday night.
Thursday’s first round coverage of the 2014 NFL Draft earned a combined 12.4 million viewers on ESPN and NFL Network, up 60% from last year (7.7M), up 53% from 2012 (8.1M), and easily the most-viewed NFL Draft telecast ever. The previous high was 8.3 million for first round coverage in 2010.
Excluding actual NFL games, the NFL Draft ranks among the most-viewed sports telecasts in cable history. Only fifteen non-NFL sporting events have earned a larger audience on cable, eleven of them BCS college football games. One game each from the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Tournament and World Cup made up the rest of the top fifteen.
The first round of the draft also earned a larger audience than this year’s rain delayed Daytona 500 (9.3M) and the final round of The Masters (11.0M), both of which aired on broadcast TV.
ESPN’s first round coverage earned a 6.1 U.S. rating and 9.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen fast-nationals — up 49% and 60%, respectively, from last year (4.1, 6.2M), and well ahead of the network’s previous record of 4.6 and 7.3 million in 2010.
NFL Network earned 2.4 million viewers for its coverage, up 60% from last year (1.5M), which was a record at the time.
Each scheduling change for the NFL Draft has produced massive increases. In 2009, the last year the first round aired on Saturday afternoon, ESPN and NFL Network combined for just 6.3 million viewers. The following year, when the draft moved to primetime, viewership for the first day soared to 8.3 million. Now the move to May has sent the numbers even higher.
Most-Viewed Sporting Events in Cable History, Excluding NFL Games
|
#
|
Date
|
Sport | Game/Event | Net | Rating |
Viewers
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Mon., 1/10/11 | BCS | BCSNC: Auburn/Oregon | ESPN |
15.3
|
27.3M
|
|
2
|
Mon., 1/7/13 | BCS | BCSNC: Alabama/Notre Dame | ESPN |
15.1
|
26.4M
|
|
3
|
Mon., 1/6/14 | BCS | BCSNC: FSU/Auburn | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS |
14.8
|
26.1M
|
|
4
|
Mon., 1/9/12 | BCS | BCSNC: Alabama/LSU | ESPN |
14.0
|
24.2M
|
|
5
|
Sat., 1/1/11 | BCS | Rose: TCU/Wisconsin | ESPN |
11.3
|
20.6M
|
|
6
|
Wed., 1/1/14 | BCS | Rose: Mich. St./Stanford | ESPN |
10.2
|
18.6M
|
|
7
|
Mon., 1/2/12 | BCS | Rose: Oregon/Wisconsin | ESPN |
10.2
|
17.5M
|
|
8
|
Tue., 1/1/13 | BCS | Rose: Stanford/Wisconsin | ESPN | 9.4 | 17.0M |
|
9
|
Thu., 1/2/14 | BCS | Sugar: Oklahoma/Alabama | ESPN | 9.3 |
16.3M
|
|
10
|
Sat., 4/5/14 | CBB | Final Four: Kentucky/Wisconsin | TBS, TNT, TruTV | 9.2 |
16.3M
|
|
11
|
Mon., 1/2/12 | BCS | Fiesta: Ok. St./Stanford | ESPN |
8.4
|
13.7M
|
|
12
|
Tue., 1/4/11 | BCS | Sugar: Ohio St./Arkansas | ESPN |
8.2
|
13.6M
|
|
13
|
Sun., 7/11/11 | WWC | Final: Japan/USA | ESPN |
7.4
|
13.5M
|
|
14
|
Sun., 10/19/08 | MLB | ALCS Game 7: Red Sox/Rays | TBS | 7.9 |
13.4M
|
|
15
|
Sat., 6/9/12 | NBA | ECF Game 7: Celtics/Heat | ESPN |
7.7
|
13.3M
|
|
16
|
Thu., 5/8/14 | NFL | NFL Draft, Round 1 | ESPN, NFLN |
N/A
|
12.4M
|
(Thu. numbers from NFL Communications, ESPN Media Zone)
