The Breeders’ Cup galloped to massive increases in overnight ratings on Saturday.
ESPN earned a 3.1 overnight rating for coverage of The Breeders Cup Classic Saturday evening (6:15-7:15 PM ET), up a whopping 182% from last year (1.1).
To put that in perspective, the 3.1 overnight matches the race segment of The Belmont Stakes on ABC in June (5:30-7:15 PM ET).
Earlier in the day, the network’s afternoon coverage of The Breeders’ Cup (3:45-6:15 PM ET) earned a 2.4 overnight, up 140% from last year (1.0).
ABC had the lowest numbers and the smallest increase of the day, but still did very well compared to previous years. The network’s coverage earned a 1.7 overnight, up a whopping 70% from last year (1.0), and up 31% from 2008 (1.3).
The 1.7 is tied as the highest overnight for the Breeders’ Cup on broadcast television since 2004 (1.9, NBC).
(Ratings from Sports Business Daily, Bloodhorse.com)
