The addition of FOX sent NFL Draft ratings to a four-year high and helped NFL Network’s production beat ESPN’s for the first time, but ESPN was still the most-watched of the four networks Thursday night.
Thursday’s NFL Draft opening round earned a 7.0 rating and 11.2 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, FOX and NFL Network, up 27% in ratings and 22% in viewership from last year (5.5, 9.2M) and up 35% in both measures from 2016 (5.2, 8.3M). Prior to this year, coverage aired on ESPN and NFL Network alone.
Including streaming viewership on ESPN, Fox and NFL digital outlets, the opening round generated 11.4 million viewers.
The combined audience is the second-largest ever for the NFL Draft behind the opening round in 2014. That year, hype surrounding Johnny Manziel lifted ESPN and NFL Network to a combined 7.6 and 12.4 million.
ESPN was easily the most-watched of Thursday’s four networks, scoring a 3.3 rating and 5.34 million viewers. It topped FOX, which was airing the draft for the first time, by 46 percent (3.74M).
Across all of television, ESPN’s draft telecast delivered the night’s highest rating adults 18-49 (2.1) and adults 18-34 (1.9).
While ESPN was the top network, the added competition took a toll. The network’s coverage declined 18% in ratings and 22% in viewership from last year (4.0, 6.7M) and down 18% and 15% respectively from 2016 (4.0, 6.3M). It was ESPN’s lowest rated opening day of the draft since 2004 (3.1) and least-watched since 2009 (5.1M).
FOX, which is airing the draft for the first time, had a 2.4 rating and 3.7 million viewers for its simulcast of NFL Network’s coverage. NFL Network had a 1.2 and 2.0 million, down 20% and 21% respectively from last year (2.5M) and its smallest draft audience in three years.
The joint Fox-NFL Network production narrowly outdrew the combined audience across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes (5.7M to 5.5M), marking the first time that the majority of draft viewers watched on a non-ESPN network.
[Numbers from NFL PR 4.27; Nielsen via Programming Insider 4.27]
