Though down from last year, viewership for the 2014 Kentucky Derby was among the highest since 1989.
The race portion of the Kentucky Derby earned a 9.4 rating and 15.3 million viewers according to Nielsen fast-nationals, down 3% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (9.7, 16.2M), but up 4% and 3%, respectively, from 2012 (9.0, 14.8M).
Keep in mind this year’s race faced head-to-head competition from Game 7 of the Hawks/Pacers NBA playoff series. While the NBA game had only 3.6 million viewers, that still constituted more competition than is usual for the race.
Despite the decline, viewership for the race portion was the fifth-highest since 1989 (18.5M). Only the 1990 (15.6M), 2009 (16.1M), 2013 (16.2M), and 2010 (16.5M) races attracted more viewers. Nine of the ten most-viewed editions of the race since ’89 have aired on NBC.
Excluding the NFL and the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby earned the 12th-largest audience for any sporting event since last year’s race. The race earned a significantly larger audience than the Daytona 500 on FOX (9.3M) and the final round of The Masters on CBS (11.0M), with the caveat that both of those events had unusually small audiences this year.
(This year’s numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box)
