Historic Kentucky Derby 148 peaks at 19 million viewers

On3 imageby:Jack Pilgrim05/10/22

The 148th running of the Kentucky Derby was among the most-watched sporting events in recent years — fourth-most among non-football and Olympic events since 2020, to be exact. It was also among the historic event’s most-watched in 33 years.

The Derby averaged 15.79 million viewers on NBC — 16.0 million including streaming services — good for the highest rating in three years (2019, 16.34M). It was also the event’s seventh-largest audience since 1989, with ratings and viewership up 8% from last year across all platforms.

Viewership peaked at 19.0 million viewers immediately following the race between 7-7:15 p.m. ET, the largest peak audience since 2017. That came shortly after 80-1 longshot Rich Strike shocked the world by becoming the second-longest shot winner of all time, behind only Donerail (91-1) in 1913. The 19.0 million viewers tops the peak of 18.5 million for the post-race disqualification of Maximum Security three years ago.

Beyond the live race itself, the overhead angle of Rich Strike’s come-from-behind victory has generated nearly 40 million views, more than any Kentucky Derby video posted to NBC’s social media platforms.

Not counting football and Olympic events, only three NCAA men’s Final Four games surpassed the Derby’s total average viewership since 2020: North Carolina-Duke (17.66M) and Kansas-North Carolina (17.05M) this year and Baylor-Gonzaga last year (17.08M).

Unsurprisingly, Louisville led all markets with a 28.5 rating, with 63% of all in-use televisions in the city tuned in. Ft. Myers, Florida ranked second with an 18.7 rating (41%), followed by Cincinnati (16.2, 45%) and West Palm Beach (14.3, 36%). Baltimore (33%) and Buffalo (29%) both finished with an 11.5 rating.

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2024-03-28