The NFL Draft had a record-breaking audience when Joe Burrow and Chase Young heard their names called Thursday night ... with an average of 15.6 MILLION people watching!
The league just announced the crazy numbers from Night 1 of the 3-day event ... touting a huge 37% increase from 2019.
And get this, the league claims the number ballooned to 19.6 MILLION watching from 8:45-9 PM. Wow!
Also worth noting ... the NFL says the top 3 metered markets were from Ohio -- Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Obviously, the fact the Cincinnati Bengals had the #1 overall pick -- and selected Ohio native Joe Burrow had a lot to do with that.