The second night of the draft drew another 275,000 fans to Detroit. As it turns out, that crowd made up 5.5 percent of the total TV audience.
Via Sports Business Journal, 5.1 million watched the three-network simulcast of Friday night’s draft coverage. That’s the smallest audience since 2012.
ABC had 2.7 million viewers, and NFL Network averaged 793,000 — its lowest Friday night draft audience since 2011, when only 549,000 tuned in.
It’s no surprise. No quarterbacks were drafted in rounds two and three. More broadly, the sizzle was generally gone by the time the first round ended.
The disconnect is remarkable between the live attendance and the TV audience. The reality, however, is that it’s very easy to follow the draft via phone. There’s no compelling reason, after the first round, to actually watch the picks being made.