Coverage of the first round of the NFL draft drew its second-largest audience, topping all prime-time entertainment programs and surpassing the Oscars, for the week of April 26 to May 2.
Coverage of the first round of the NFL draft drew its second-largest audience, topping all of the week’s prime-time entertainment programs and surpassing the Oscars four days earlier.
ESPN’s coverage averaged 6.479 million viewers, first among prime-time cable programs airing between April 26 and Sunday and seventh overall, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen on Tuesday. ABC’s coverage averaged 4.192 million viewers, 23rd for the week, and the NFL Network’s 1.85 million.For the first time viewership for the NFL draft was larger than the Oscars, which aired the previous week. ABC’s April 25 Oscars coverage averaged a record-low 10.403 million viewers.
CBS had the week’s five top-ranked individual programs, topped by “NCIS,” which averaged 8.546 million viewers for its fifth first-place finish in the 32-week-old 2020-21 prime-time television series. “NCIS” is the season’s only scripted program to win a week this season. The procedural drama “9-1-1” had Fox’s biggest audience, averaging 5.965 million viewers, 10th for the week. A “9-1-1” episode has had Fox’s largest audience all 10 weeks it has aired this season.