The addition of Fox and ABC as NFL Draft outlets, along with increased drama around player selections this year, led to the event seeing its best TV viewership on record. The three-day event averaged 5.5 million viewers across ESPN, NFL Network, Fox, ABC and ESPN2, passing the previous average of 5.4 million viewers in ’14, when ESPN, NFL Net and ESPN2 had coverage. This was the first year that the entire Draft was aired on a broadcast TV outlet. This year also easily topped ’10, which was the first year the Draft aired over three days (4.3 million viewers). The last time the Draft was a two-day weekend afternoon affair, it averaged 3.4 million viewers. The three days of coverage also saw a 20% uptick over ’17 on ESPN, NFL Net and ESPN2. Meanwhile, the average of 11.1 million viewers for Round 1 on Thursday night, which aired on ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Net and Fox, was the NFL Draft’s second-best single-day telecast on record, behind only the first round in ’14. On Saturday, ABC, ESPN and NFL Net averaged 2.9 million viewers, marking the best Day 3 of the Draft on record (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
SPECIAL MOMENT: THE ATHLETIC's Richard Deitsch notes an agreement was reached that ESPN could film Seahawk's fifth-round selection, LB Shaquem Griffin, as he and his "extended party watched the draft on Saturday." The two parties "agreed on one producer (Jim Witalka) and one reporter (Laura Rutledge) being allowed inside the room." ESPN was in place to "deliver a terrific draft moment." The net’s first 11 minutes of the selection "featured images of Griffin and his family celebrating the selection, photos of those that Griffin has inspired, a graphics package of the most famous athletes who are also limb deficient, and a long discussion between host Trey Wingo and analysts Louis Riddick, Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay on how he would fit in with the Seahawks." The broadcast then went to Rutledge for a "compelling three-minute interview" with Griffin and his brother, Seahawks CB Shaquill Griffin. ESPN went 16 minutes in total on the Griffin selection, with a "poignant shot of the two brothers hugging and crying to take them to break." That hug "wasn’t conducted in real time." However, ESPN Senior Cordinating Producer Seth Markman said that once his producer "told the production truck he had such a shot, everyone in the truck decided it was the perfect image to go to break on." The NFL Network also did "excellent work with Griffin including a fabulous interview on its set with Shaquem and Shaquill that eventually included the entire family." NFL Net aired Shaquem Griffin "returning to AT&T Stadium during the sixth round to walk with his family onto the draft stage" (THEATHLETIC.com, 4/30).
