I Am Mine: Kentucky Derby Earns Highest Overnights In 17 Years

NBC Earns Its Highest Overnight Nielsen  Rating For Kentucky Derby Since '92

NBC’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby earned a 10.2/22 overnight Nielsen rating during the race segment of the telecast (6:00-7:00pm ET), up 7% from last year’s 9.5/21 rating. The 10.2/22 is the highest overnight rating for the race since ’92 (NBC). MEDIA LIFE MAGAZINE’s Toni Fitzgerald writes the Derby’s ratings increase "may have been due in part to a huge promotional effort launched by NBC across many of its NBC Universal properties, especially those targeting women” (MEDIALIFEMAGAZINE.com, 5/5). In N.Y., Joe Drape noted NBC "began promoting the race on Super Bowl Sunday," and tried to "broaden the Kentucky Derby’s audience by targeting the casual viewer" via different outlets including "Today," "The Tonight Show" and female-centric networks Bravo and Oxygen (NYTIMES.com, 5/4).

BAD TIMING? In Dallas, Barry Horn wrote "kudos to NBC for reporting what it knew" about the bubble collapse at the Cowboys' practice facility during the Derby telecast. But Horn noted NBC's Bob Costas prefaced an interview with Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones with a mention of the September 20 Giants-Cowboys "Sunday Night Football" game at the Cowboys' new stadium. Horn: "Maybe NBC should have shelved the shameless self-promotion of its Sunday Night broadcast of the Giants-Cowboys game at the new stadium in Arlington" (DALLASNEWS.com, 5/4). In San Antonio, Buck Harvey asks, "What was Costas thinking?" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 5/5).