ESPN earned a 2.5 overnight Nielsen rating for last night's NBA Draft from 7:30pm-12:15am ET, marking the best overnight for the draft since the net earned a 2.6 overnight in '07. This year's figure is up 8.7% from a 2.3 overnight for last year's draft. Cleveland-Akron topped all U.S. markets with a 5.6 local rating, followed by Salt Lake City (5.0), San Antonio (4.6), Indianapolis (4.6) and Chicago (3.9) (THE DAILY).
IT'S JIMMER TIME: In Albany, Pete Dougherty writes ESPN's coverage of the Draft "seemed to be all about" Jimmer Fredette, the former BYU G drafted 10th overall. ESPN "devoted two segments of its half-hour pre-draft show to Fredette," who was drafted by the Bucks but will join the Kings "because of a pre-draft trade." In addition, the network's broadcast team "made several references" to his hometown of Glens Falls, N.Y., and the "Jimmer Jam" party at the Glens Falls Civic Center, though Mark Jones at one point mistakenly called it "Glen Falls" (Albany TIMES UNION, 6/24).
INSTANT ACCESS: WSCR-AM's Dan Bernstein writes due to Twitter, fans "with a smartphone or a computer felt like they were watching coverage [of the Draft] on some kind of bizzare delay." News that No. 23 pick Nikola Mirotic was being traded to the Bulls appeared on Twitter "a good ten minutes before ESPN seemed to have a clue." Yahoo Sports "had most picks called before they were made," and experts from SI.com, NBA.com and CBSSports.com "were injecting insight and opinion into the Twitter mainline." At the same time, ESPN was airing "another insipid, perfunctory interview with a mumbling, overwhelmed draftee." Bernstein: "There are events where the size, resources and muscle of a major TV network are attributes, but last night they were hindrances for ESPN. The speed and flexibility of Twitter allowed others to outflank them" (CHICAGO.CBSLOCAL.com, 6/24).
