NFL Announces Record-Setting TV Ratings For The 2020 Draft
ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 26: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium on April 26, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
The NFL Draft is always a made-for-television event. This year, that rang true even more than usual.
The 2020 NFL draft was held virtually due to COVID-19, but the format did not hurt ratings at all. In fact, likely thanks in large part to live sports being halted right now, the draft drew its best ratings ever.
According to an announcement from the NFL, this year's draft reeled in over 55 million viewers "across Nielsen-measured channels" over the course of three days. That figure is a 16% increase from 2019.
Additionally, each individual day of the draft saw sizable viewership increases when compared to last year.
"Each day of the 2020 NFL Draft established new highs as an average audience of over 15.6 million viewers watched Round 1 on Thursday (+37% vs. 2019), over 8.2 million viewers watched Rounds 2 & 3 on Friday (+40% vs. 2019), and over 4.2 million viewers watched Rounds 4-7 on Saturday (+32% vs. 2019)," reads the NFL release.
Overall, the quarantine draft might have been a better overall product than the broadcasts for the event usually are. The work by the production crews at ESPN and the NFL Network was outstanding.
Assuming the sports landscape--and life in general--has returned to normal by next April, we would expect the draft's ratings to take a slight hit. However, we wouldn't be opposed to seeing the same digital format for future drafts.
