The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday night averaged 4.41 million viewers on ESPN and ABC and won the night on television, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. This is up 18% year-over-year, which is compared to the one-night NBA Draft that aired last June. The 2024 NBA Draft is being broadcast over two days for the first time in the history of the event, and included top prospects such as Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr and Reed Sheppard. Several trades took place during the NBA Draft as well, which were reported on and broken down on both broadcasts throughout the night. The ABC and ESPN broadcasts peaked with over 5 million viewers at 8:15 p.m. EST.
According to a report from Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch, first-round viewership of the NBA Draft declined by 11% on the year. Yet the viewership figure was up from 2022 when the event averaged 3.99 million, which included Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith Jr. being taken in the top 3.
Kevin Neghandi hosted ABC’s coverage of the NBA Draft with analysts Stephen A. Smith and Bob Myers providing insights and analysis. Malika Andrews hosted the ESPN coverage for the event with analysts Jay Bilas, Andraya Carter and Richard Jefferson. The broadcasts included contributions from Adrian Wojnarowski, Monica McNutt, Bobby Marks and Jonathan Givony as well.
Day 2 of the 2024 NBA Draft started on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. EST from the ESPN Seaport District Studios in New York, N.Y. Andrews, Smith, Myers and Wojnarowski, four of the five members of NBA Countdown, were all on hand for the event providing studio coverage and analysis. The NBA Draft is the third most-watched sports draft audience of the year thus far, behind the first two nights of the NFL Draft that drew 11.63 million and 5.05 million viewers, respectively. Additionally, the WNBA Draft on ESPN averaged 2.45 million viewers, the most-watched edition of the event in the history of the league.
