The first leg of the Triple Crown delivered one of horse racing’s largest audiences in three decades.
The race portion of the Kentucky Derby delivered a 9.3 rating and 16.4 million viewers on NBC Saturday evening, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 3% in ratings and 6% in viewership from last year (9.0, 15.5M). Compared to American Pharoah‘s win in 2015, ratings fell 3% from a 9.6 but viewership rose 2% from 16.0 million.
Always Dreaming‘s win, which peaked with 19.1 million viewers from 6:45-7 PM ET, delivered the second-largest Kentucky Derby TV audience since 1989. The 2010 race holds the top spot over that span (16.5M).
Ratings were not quite as impressive, tying the sixth-highest mark since NBC began televising the race in 2001.
Overall, Saturday’s race was the fifth-most watched horse racing telecast since 1989 — trailing the 2010 Derby and the 2004, 2014 and 2015 Belmont Stakes, each of which featured a horse going for the Triple Crown. NBC owns the nine largest horse racing audiences over the past 28 years.
Figures do not include the 98,000 who streamed coverage on NBC Sports digital platforms. With those viewers included, Saturday’s race had 16.543 million — edging 2010 (16.498M) as the largest Derby audience since 1989.
Compared to other sports, the Kentucky Derby outdrew the final round of The Masters (6.8, 11.1M) and the Daytona 500 (6.6, 11.9M), with the caveat that those events had to sustain an audience over a longer period of time (multiple hours as opposed to 47 minutes).
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports Group Press Box 5.8)
