It was not for the suspense of the first choice that the Americans watched the Draft on Thursday evening, but more to witness this historic moment with the advent of Victor Wembanyama, when he had not broken a record for the “lottery”.
And the spectators also made history since the 2023 Draft brought together an average of 3.74 million viewers in front of ESPN and ABC, we learn Sports MediaWatch. Either the best audience for the Draft, exceeding that of 2015 (3.73 million), or those of LeBron James in 2003 (2.83 million) and Zion Williamson in 2019 (3.09 million).
However, it should be noted that, if the Draft has been televised since 1980, it was only broadcast on cable before 2021. It is therefore difficult to compare the figures for the different editions.
In detail, we note that the audience of 2023 explodes that of 2022 (23% more) and 6.09 million people were in front of their screen when Victor Wembanyama was called by Adam Silver.
In addition, the first round was followed by 4.93 million people, and the second, only broadcast on ESPN, much less obviously, with only 1.19 million.
