Featuring the most-hyped draftee since LeBron James, the NBA Draft posted a slight uptick.
The 2019 NBA Draft averaged 3.09 million viewers across ESPN, ESPNU and ESPNEWS, according to Sports Business Daily — up 1% from last year (3.07M), but down 13% from 2017 (3.55M), both of which aired on ESPN alone.
An earlier version of this article reported that the NBA Draft was the least-watched in nine years. That was based on the ESPN audience of 2.87 million viewers. As ESPN did not make any announcement about simulcasting the Draft on ESPNU and ESPNEWS — even in a press release announcing its coverage — the assumption was that ESPN provided the sole telecast of the event.
The Draft was not as strong a draw as last month’s NBA Draft Lottery, which increased 83 percent to a 16-year high (4.43M).
One might have expected stronger numbers given the presence of Duke F Zion Williamson, who was selected first overall. Williamson proved himself a strong TV draw throughout the college basketball season and into the Draft Lottery.
Keep in mind that Williamson was drafted within the first 15 minutes of a telecast that lasted more than five hours — the longest NBA Draft telecast in at least five years. While ESPN interviewed him later in the night, and showed cutaways of him throughout, anyone interested in Williamson got their fix before 8 PM ET.
When Johnny Manziel was drafted into the NFL five years ago, viewers had to stick around for nearly three hours before he was selected by the Cleveland Browns. Not surprisingly, that night’s coverage still ranks as the most-watched in the history of the event.
Thursday’s telecast earned a larger audience than in 2003, when James was selected first overall (2.82M).
ESPN’s coverage had a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49, down a tick from last year and down 14% from 2017 (1.4). It was the night’s top show on all of television. It also took top honors in adults 18-34 (1.0, -9%).
[Numbers from Nielsen via Sports Business Daily 6.26, ShowBuzz Daily 6.21, Programming Insider 6.21]
