The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby had a fantastic and historic finish on the track and an equally historic finish in terms of the ratings.
According to preliminary data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, 19.6 million viewers tuned in for the race portion of the 152nd Kentucky Derby, making it the most-watched Derby on record.
This ratings performance builds on the already very strong numbers put up by the “Race for the Roses” last year, which earned 17.7 million viewers. The most for any race since 1989 at the time.
In total, this year’s race brought NBC a 12 percent increase over last year’s numbers.
“It is important to note, this is the first Kentucky Derby to be measured with Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel methodology, and just the second to be measured with Nielsen’s expanded out-of-home viewing sample,” Awful Announcing writes. “Both changes have tended to increase viewership figures for live sports compared to prior years. It’s quite likely that the 1989 Kentucky Derby, which averaged 18.5 million viewers, would’ve eclipsed this year’s audience using modern measurement standards.”
Golden Tempo’s stunning run from 18th to first was seen by 24.4 million viewers in the 7 p.m. EST window at race time.
Streaming numbers offered a considerable boost to the overall total. A total of 1.3 million viewers watched the race on Peacock, a figure substantially higher than the 959,000 who watched on the app last year.
To put the 19.6 total viewer number in perspective, that number of watchers is more than all single World Series games with the exception of one, since 2019. In addition, it is more than any single NBA Finals game since 2017.
While World Series and NBA Finals games are parts of series, as opposed to the Kentucky Derby, which is a singular event, the nearly 20 million viewers gained on Saturday represent proof positive that horse racing is alive and well.