Cleveland notched the best TV ratings for 1st round of the NFL draft

Cleveland notched the best TV ratings for 1st round of the NFL draft

The 2021 NFL draft pulled in outstanding ratings on television platforms. And no market contributed more to the high ratings than The Land.

Nearly 13 million people tuned into the first round of the draft on Thursday night. Only the 2019 first round pulled higher television ratings. To put it in perspective, more people watched the first round of the 2021 NFL draft than watched the deciding game of the World Series last fall.

Cleveland topped all measured markets in local ratings. The host city logged a rating of 21.7, meaning over 20 percent of all televisions in Northeast Ohio that were on were tuned into the draft.

Graphic courtesy of ESPN’s Public Relations

Even though the Browns did not pick until after three hours of the draft had already passed, Cleveland still tuned in with record numbers.