NBC finished with a 9.4 fast-national rating and 15.3 million viewers for the race segment of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, which saw California Chrome capture the first leg of the Triple Crown. That audience is down from ’13, but up significantly from ’12 and ’11. The race had head-to-head competition from TNT with Pacers-Hawks Game 7 this year and no NBA competition last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
|
KENTUCKY DERBY RACE SEGMENT AUDIENCE TREND ON NBC
|
|
YEAR
|
RATING
|
VIEWERS (000)
|
WINNER |
|
'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 |
|
|
|
|
|
SMACK TALK: In Canada, Neil Davidson wrote UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, who was a coach on season 18 of "The Ultimate Fighter," has "no time for the reality TV show these days." Rousey said, "I don't watch 'The Ultimate Fighter' now that I know how much bull is in it. I don't support it." Rousey said of producer Pilgrim Studios, "They don't know the first thing about fighting. They only know about reality TV and they treated us like we were 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' and not elite athletes that should be respected." But UFC President Dana White "defended the reality TV show. White: "It's not going to be an amazing experience for everybody. Every season fighters have different experiences on the show, and they're not always good. That's part of reality television" (
CP, 5/5).
IT'S A MAD, MAD WORLD: In Cleveland, Cliff Pinckard notes SiriusXM Radio's Chris Russo was "asked by a caller last Friday why he has never had a black host on the channel." Russo responded that there are "no black radio hosts 'worthy' of doing the job." He later backtracked and said that "no black radio host worthy of doing the job has applied." Russo later "defended his remarks on Twitter" (CLEVELAND.com, 5/6).
SOCIALLY SPEAKING: In N.Y., Jen Geller wrote the MLB Fan Cave has "evolved during the past three seasons." The first year was "just two fans glued to the games," but in '12 and '13 it "became more like a reality-TV show." MLB "realized that the drama that plays well on television doesn't necessarily translate to social media." This year, the "dwellers act more as conduits for baseball fans to get closer to the players and the game." The cave has "about 3 million social-media followers," which is "up about a half-million from the end of the 2013 season and far more than the 250,000 it had" at the end of its initial '11 season (CRAINSNEWYORK.com, 5/2).
