The in-person attendance was unreal. The TV viewership was good not great.
According to the league, Thursday night’s coverage of the first round of the draft averaged 12.1 million viewers across all platforms — ESPN, ABC, NFL Network, and digital channels.
That was an increase of six percent over last year’s 11.4 million and the highest round-one viewership since 2021. The broadcasts had a total unduplicated audience of 34.3 million.
While the numbers are impressive (since there was no game being played), it’s hard not to wonder why the numbers aren’t even higher. It’s the NFL, for crying out loud. The draft gets relentless hype. What was everyone else watching on a Thursday night in late April?
Several years ago, the NFL was musing about the possibility of having the draft on all broadcast partners, creating election night-style coverage. That hasn’t happened. And that might be what the NFL needs to do to get the number over 20 million — as it would be for a prime-time game on a three-letter network.