Viewership for the NFL Draft declined this year on ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network as the '15 event did not have the drama around certain players such as QB Johnny Manziel or DE Michael Sam that was seen last year. ESPN and ESPN2 averaged 2.93 million viewers for three days of coverage, down 29% from last year’s 4.12 million viewers, which was the net’s best figure since ’93. Coverage also was down 3% from 3.04 million viewers in ’13, but flat compared to the ’12 telecasts. Thursday’s first round on ESPN finished with 7.03 million viewers, down from 9.94 million viewers last year, but up from 6.2 million viewers in ’13. Friday night’s combined average on ESPN (7:00-8:00pm ET) and ESPN2 (8:00-11:25pm) averaged 2.08 million viewers, down from 2.8 million last year and 2.73 million in ’13. Saturday's coverage on ESPN from 12:00-6:40pm drew 1.29 million viewers, down from 1.962 million viewers last year. Meanwhile, NFL Net averaged 1.816 million viewers for its first-round coverage on Thursday, down from 2.43 million viewers last year. Exact viewership for NFL Net's three-day coverage was not available at presstime.
