With Justify setting up the first Triple Crown possibility in three years, Preakness Stakes overnights bounced back from last year’s low.
Saturday’s Preakness Stakes race segment delivered a 5.5 overnight rating on NBC, up 12% from last year (4.9) but down 11% from 2016 (6.2). Compared to 2015, the last time the Kentucky Derby winner won the race, overnights fell 5% (from 5.5).
Justify‘s win tied the second-lowest Preakness overnight since NBC began airing the event in 2001, matching 2012 and ahead of only last year. Five of NBC’s eight lowest Preakness overnights have come in years when the Derby winner won the race.
Overnights peaked at a 6.6 during the quarter-hour encompassing the race (6:45-7 PM ET) — up 6% from last year (6.2) but down 18% from 2016 (8.0).
The Preakness was the day’s highest rated sporting event in the metered markets, topping Game 3 of the NBA’s Celtics-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN (5.1).
The increase for the Preakness is a marked turnaround from the Kentucky Derby, which declined double-digits. That is not uncommon; Derby and Preakness ratings often go in opposite directions. Last year, the Derby increased and the Preakness declined.
Louisville led all markets Saturday with a 15.2 rating, up 15% from last year (13.2) and its highest since 2014 (16.6). Host-market Baltimore ranked second at a 14.9, up 2% from last year (14.6) but down 24% from 2016 (19.7).
Tampa-St. Petersburg (10.7) and Washington D.C. (10.3) ranked third and fourth. Viewers in those markets were undoubtedly awaiting the Lightning-Capitals NHL conference final game that followed. Notably, the NHL game outperformed the Preakness in Tampa (12.0) but not in Washington (7.1).
Ft. Myers, Fla. (9.9) rounded out the top five (-18%).
