Highest-Rated NBA Draft Ever on ESPN
Up 19 Percent from 2013
The 2014 NBA Draft on ESPN delivered a 3.1 overnight rating, the highest-rated NBA Draft ever on ESPN, according to Nielsen. The Draft was up 19 percent compared to last year's telecast, which posted a 2.6 overnight rating. The Draft peaked at a 3.9 rating from both 8:15-8:30 and 8:30-8:45 p.m. ET.
The previous NBA Draft record on ESPN was a 2.7 overnight rating in 2003 - the first year ESPN televised the event - which featured the historic Draft class of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh.
2014 NBA Draft on ESPN
Top Markets Local Rating
Louisville 7.1
Oklahoma City 6.3
Memphis 5.4
Raleigh-Durham 5.2
Cleveland 5.1
Greensboro 5.0
Philadelphia 4.1
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale 4.1
Salt Lake City 4.1
San Antonio 4.0
ESPN Televises Most-watched NBA Draft Since 1995
Highest-rated and Most-watched NBA Draft Ever on ESPN
ESPN's exclusive coverage of the 2014 NBA Draft Thursday, June 26, averaged 3,451,000 viewers (P2+) and a 2.3 U.S. household rating, making it the most-watched NBA Draft across all networks since 1995 (3,626,000) and the most-watched NBA Draft ever on ESPN, according to Nielsen. It also marks an increase of 15 percent from 2,999,000 viewers for last year's telecast.
The 2.3 U.S. household rating is up 15 percent from a 2.0 U.S. household rating in 2013, ranking as ESPN's highest-rated NBA Draft ever and the highest-rated NBA Draft on any network since 1996 (2.5).
Additionally, the NBA Draft on WatchESPN saw 327,000 unique viewers (up 166 percent over last year), 6.3 million total minutes (up 12 percent over last year) and an average minute audience of 22,856 (up 18 percent over last year).
The 2014 NBA Draft on ESPN was the most-talked-about TV program on Twitter yesterday, June 26, with 2.7 million tweets, according to Nielsen Social. The event was the fourth most-talked about NBA telecast of the year behind Game 5 (6.4 million), Game 1 (3.1 million), and Game 4 (2.9 million) of The Finals.
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