Fans watch the draft stage during the third day of the NFL football draft, Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
NEW YORK (AP) --
After posting strong numbers for the first round, viewership for the NFL draft was down 3% from last year on TV and digital platforms.
The draft averaged 5.74 million viewers for the three days this year across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network after averaging 5.93 million in 2023 according to the league and Nielsen.
The first round, where six quarterbacks were selected, averaged 12.1 million viewers, a 6% increase over last year. It was the highest day one viewership since 2021, when there was an average audience of 12.6 million.
The last two days saw a drop-off though, with a dearth of compelling storylines.
The league and Nielsen said 53.6 million tuned in at some point over the three days to watch the draft festivities from Detroit.
MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, left, Lawrence O'Donnell, center, and Chris Matthews take part in a panel discussion at the NBC Universal summer press tour, Aug. 2, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
Comcast's corporate reorganization means that there will soon be two television networks with "NBC" in their name — CNBC and MSNBC — that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News.
How that affects viewers of those networks, along with the people who work there, still needs to shake out. Their new corporate leader, Mark Lazarus, visited the set of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" as the plan was being announced on Wednesday and spoke to network staff members during a morning conference call to address concerns.
Comcast is spinning off most of its cable networks, also including USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel, into a separate company. That recognizes how streaming is considered the future and the cable networks are a drag on the bottom line.
In the space of a lifetime, the networks went from upstarts aside a legacy operation like NBC to profitable superstars to castoffs.
Questions range from the simple to complex
Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Universal Media Group, is becoming CEO of the newly-formed company of cable networks, temporarily dubbed "SpinCo." Cesar Conde, who as NBC Universal News Group chairman had oversight of CNBC and MSNBC, will lose those networks from his portfolio, yet remain in charge of NBC News, NBC News Now streaming, Telemundo and the news operations of the NBC-owned local stations.
The presence of Lazarus and Anand Kini, who will be chief operating officer and chief financial officer of SpinCo, is a good sign for the new company, said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, research analyst for the Bank of America. "You can't dismiss it as getting rid of the crappy assets, because these are talented executives," she said.
At MSNBC, questions about the future range from the... Read More
