ESPN’s multi-day format of their 2024 NBA Draft broadcast on both ABC and ESPN led to questions as to how this may affect viewership over the course of the event. And it turns out, Day 1 of the event performed quite admirably in comparison to the 2023 draft
The opening round of the draft on Wednesday night averaged 4.41 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, according to Sports Media Watch, peaking at 5.5 million viewers. This is up 18% from last year’s average audience (3.74 million).
However, things look a bit different when you compare the numbers between Wednesday’s viewership and just the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft, which is a better comparison considering this year’s event occurred over the course of two days.
Last year, 4.93 million last year tuned into just the first round, which is of course higher than the number ESPN had come in on Wednesday.
This makes sense when you consider this year’s draft simply didn’t have the same star power at the top of the draft that the 2023 draft has with San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama, who was widely talked about as the next LeBron James-esque prospect in the NBA.
It’s hard to argue that this year’s draft is one of the weaker draft classes in recent memory on paper. So to not have a drastic drop in viewership has to have ESPN feeling quite happy.
It should be interesting to see the official viewership numbers of Day 2 of the event, which occurred on Thursday afternoon at a rather strange time in order to escape competing with the first presidential debate. Particularly because one of the more intriguing draft prospects, Bronny James, had his name called by the Los Angeles Lakers.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.