NBC last Saturday averaged 16.0 million viewers for the race segment of the Kentucky Derby from 6:16-7:02pm ET, which saw American Pharoah win, up 4% from 15.3 million viewers last year, when California Chrome won the first leg of the Triple Crown. However, that audience is down slightly from 16.2 million viewers for Orb’s win in ’13. The telecast peaked at 17.9 million viewers during the actual race from 6:30-6:45pm. This year marked the fifth straight year that the Kentucky Derby topped 15.0 million viewers after not reaching that figure from ’91-’08. Pre-race coverage on NBC averaged 8.8 million viewers, marking the third-best audience for the show since ’92.
|
KENTUCKY DERBY RACE SEGMENT AUDIENCE TREND ON NBC
|
|
YEAR
|
RATING
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
WINNER
|
|
'15
|
9.6
|
16,000
|
American Pharoah
|
|
'14
|
9.4
|
15,300
|
California Chrome
|
|
'13
|
9.7
|
16,200
|
Orb
|
|
'12
|
9.0
|
14,800
|
I'll Have Another
|
|
'11
|
8.5
|
14,540
|
Animal Kingdom
|
|
'10
|
9.8
|
16,540
|
Super Saver
|
|
'09
|
9.8
|
16,288
|
Mine That Bird
|
|
'08
|
8.8
|
14,203
|
Big Brown
|
|
'07
|
8.8
|
13,745
|
Street Sense
|
|
'06
|
8.4
|
12,890
|
Barbaro
|
|
'05
|
9.0
|
13,583
|
Giacomo
|
|
'04
|
9.3
|
14,568
|
Smarty Jones
|
|
'03
|
7.6
|
11,759
|
Funny Cide
|
|
'02
|
8.3
|
12,823
|
War Emblem
|
|
'01
|
9.3
|
13,478
|
Monarchos
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTES: MLB Network saw its best four-week viewership yet (April 6-May 3), with total-day audience up 6% from the first four weeks of the season last year….Golf Channel last month averaged 132,000 total-day viewers, marking its most-viewed April on record and best month overall since August ’13.
The charts below lists final audience figures from recent sports telecasts.
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| Kentucky Derby (race segment) |
5/2
|
NBC
|
6:15-7:00pm
|
9.6
|
16,000
|
| Kentucky Derby Pre-Race |
5/2
|
NBC
|
3:15-6:15pm
|
n/a
|
8,800
|
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
Geico 500 (Talladega) |
5/3
|
Fox
|
1:15-4:45pm
|
4.0
|
6,312
|
NBA Western Conference Semifinals:
Grizzlies-Warriors: Game 1 |
5/3
|
ABC
|
3:30-6:00pm
|
3.0
|
4,725
|
NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals:
Wizards-Hawks: Game 1 |
5/3
|
ABC
|
1:00-3:30pm
|
2.1
|
3,048
|
| "NASCAR Pre-Race" |
5/3
|
Fox
|
12:30-1:15pm
|
1.7
|
2,742
|
WGC-Cadillac Match Play:
Round of 16/Quarterfinals |
5/2
|
NBC
|
7:21-11:00pm
|
1.7
|
2,525
|
NASCAR Xfinity Series:
Winn-Dixie 300 (Talladega) |
5/2
|
Fox
|
3:15-5:45pm
|
1.6
|
2,400
|
| WGC-Cadillac Match Play: Semifinals/Final |
5/3
|
NBC
|
2:00-6:00pm
|
1.5
|
2,100
|
| "NASCAR Pre-Race" |
5/2
|
Fox
|
2:30-3:15pm
|
1.1
|
1,593
|
NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals:
Capitals-Rangers: Game 2 |
5/2
|
NBC
|
12:30-3:15pm
|
0.9
|
1,300
|
| "NBA Countdown" |
5/3
|
ABC
|
12:30-1:00pm
|
0.9
|
1,272
|
| NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying (Talladega) |
5/2
|
Fox
|
1:00-2:30pm
|
0.8
|
1,193
|
CONCACAF Champions League:
Club America-Impact: Leg 2 |
4/29
|
UniMas
|
7:59-10:20pm
|
0.7
|
1,185
|
| Rolex Equestrian Championships |
5/3
|
NBC
|
12:30-2:00pm
|
0.5
|
694
|
| "ESPN Sports Saturday" |
5/2
|
ABC
|
4:00-6:00pm
|
0.5
|
676
|
| Liga MX: Club America-Toluca |
5/2
|
UniMas
|
7:55-10:04pm
|
0.3
|
649
|
| "World of X Games: 20 Years, 20 Firsts" |
5/2
|
ABC
|
2:00-3:00pm
|
0.4
|
494
|
| "World of X Games: WSL Surfing" |
5/2
|
ABC
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.4
|
486
|
| PBR: Rumble in the Rockies |
5/3
|
CBS
|
3:00-4:00pm
|
0.3
|
429
|
| TELECAST |
DATE
|
NET
|
TIME (ET)
|
RAT.
|
VIEWERS
(000)
|
| NFL Draft: Round 1 |
4/30
|
ESPN
|
7:59-11:35pm
|
4.5
|
7,026
|
NBA Western Conference First Round:
Clippers-Spurs: Game 7 |
5/2
|
TNT
|
8:04-10:52pm
|
2.8
|
4,767
|
NBA Western Conference First Round:
Clippers-Spurs: Game 5 |
4/28
|
TNT
|
10:52pm-1:52am
|
2.7
|
4,029
|
NBA Western Conference First Round:
Clippers-Spurs: Game 6 |
4/30
|
TNT
|
9:40pm-12:33am
|
2.5
|
3,879
|
NBA Western Conference First Round:
Rockets-Mavericks: Game 5 |
4/28
|
TNT
|
8:09-10:52pm
|
2.2
|
3,348
|
NBA Eastern Conference First Round:
Bulls-Bucks: Game 5 |
4/27
|
TNT
|
8:09-10:45pm
|
1.9
|
2,966
|
NBA Western Conference First Round:
Grizzlies-Trail Blazers: Game 5 |
4/29
|
TNT
|
9:44pm-12:31am
|
2.0
|
2,937
|
NBA Western Conference First Round:
Grizzlies-Trail Blazers: Game 4 |
4/27
|
TNT
|
10:45pm-1:12am
|
1.7
|
2,578
|
| NFL Draft: Rounds 2-3 |
5/1
|
ESPN
|
6:59-7:58pm
|
1.6
|
2,342
|
| MLB: Yankees-Red Sox |
5/3
|
ESPN
|
8:00pm-12:01am
|
1.5
|
2,278
|
