NFL Draft Is TV Audience's First Pick In Primetime

The NFL Draft, an unwanted TV property many years ago, is now one of the biggest events of the year from a viewership standpoint. And the 2023 edition has been no different, at least through the first round.

According to Inscape data:

• The 2023 NFL Draft was the No. 1 program: 8.11% of April 27 linear TV watch-time
• Including pre-draft shows, NFL Draft programming accounted for 9.66% of minutes watched
• In primetime, the NFL Draft had 20.74% of watch-time (5.5x the next program); NFL Draft Countdown was No. 8, with 1.57% of primetime minutes watched
• The first round of this year’s NFL Draft is up considerably vs. last year in terms of share of minutes watched – the event had 17.25% of primetime watch-time on day one last year, and 6.63% of watch-time for the day

Granted, last year's first round was also up against three elimination games in the NBA Playoffs (which would've been the case this year if not for early exits). But the draft has become an event that dominates TV like few others can.