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NBA Draft Viewership Up 14% From Last Year, But Below Record-Setting '15 Audience

ESPN on Thursday finished with 3.42 million viewers for the NBA Draft, up 14% from last year, but below the record-setting figure from the '15 Draft, when the T'Wolves selected C Karl-Anthony Towns with the No. 1 overall pick. ESPN began airing the event in '03. This year marks the net's third-best Draft audience on record. Meanwhile, WatchESPN had an average minute streaming audience of 135,000 viewers, a new NBA Draft record for the platform and up 55% from last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

NBA DRAFT VIEWERSHIP TREND ON ESPN
YEAR
VIEWERS (000)
'17
3,420
'16
2,994
'15
3,738
'14
3,451
'13
2,999

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: In Chicago, Phil Rosenthal wrote The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski made it seem like ESPN on Draft night was on the "outside looking in." Wojnarowski and his colleagues at The Vertical continually disrupted the Draft's "careful choreography by pumping out scoop after scoop with first-round pick news and trade reports online before they were acknowledged by either the league or TV crew." Wojnarowski, "whose tweets -- a critical component of The Vertical's excellent streaming studio show for Yahoo -- sometimes got two picks ahead of what was on TV." It "got ridiculous" when the Magic traded the 25th pick to the 76ers, so the 76ers could take Latvian C Anzejs Pasecniks. Wojnarowski "blasted out news of the trade, but ESPN apparently was unable to corroborate it" before Commissioner Adam Silver announced the selection. ESPN viewers were then "treated to analysis" of how the pick was "reflective" of new Magic GM John Hammond's strategy. But anyone also monitoring The Vertical "knew the babble was utterly irrelevant." With Wojnarowski "headed to ESPN one only can hope it's hiring him to do what he does and not hold him back in any way" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 6/23). 

GLASS HOUSE? In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote ESPN's Michael Wilbon "should have been more specific while lecturing the media" on Draft night. Wilbon, "one of ESPN’s featured Draft mouths, took the media to task" for giving LaVar Ball "too much exposure." But Wilbon, a "long-time star at ESPN, should have pointed out that the network he works for has given Ball more face-time than any other outlet not based" in L.A. (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/25).

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