NFL Draft viewership down double digits across three-day run

Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

A comparative lack of drama across Days 2 and 3 of the NFL Draft led to a double-digit dip in viewership compared to last year.

Last week’s NFL Draft averaged 6.6 million viewers during its entire three-day run across ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, Disney+, Hulu, the ESPN app, NFL+, TikTok, YouTube, and X. That figure is down 12% from last year’s average of 7.5 million viewers. Of course, last year’s coverage included the precipitous fall of star quarterback Shedeur Sanders into Day 3, which kept viewership higher than normal throughout the Friday and Saturday broadcasts.

As with the first-round data, the full-draft viewership includes audiences that tuned in on platforms not measured by Nielsen, like TikTok, YouTube, and X, making any year-to-year comparisons difficult. For instance, platforms not measured by Nielsen added approximately 300,000 viewers to the first-round viewership figure released by the NFL (13.2 million viewers). On a linear-only basis, the first round averaged 12.9 million viewers.

Friday’s coverage of the second and third rounds averaged 6.3 million viewers, while Saturday’s late-round coverage conjured up 3.7 million viewers.

A viewership decline was to be expected this year, save for a three-day storyline similar to what Sanders delivered in 2025.

Even with the 12% overall decline, this was the third-most-watched NFL Draft of all time, at least on paper. In addition to the various digital platforms being added to the overall number, there are the standard Nielsen-related caveats boosting viewership compared to prior years.

Regardless of the technicalities around ratings measurements, these draft numbers are healthy by any measure, even if they’re down a bit from last year. 7.5 million viewers across over 10 hours of programming that realistically could be an email to communicate the exact same information. That’s impressive, and it shows just how strong NFL fandom really is.

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