Kentucky Derby draws highest TV audience since 1989
NBC Sports’ presentation of the 150th Kentucky Derby, a thriller won by Mystik Dan, averaged a total audience delivery of 16.7 million viewers, marking the largest Kentucky Derby audience since 1989, when 18.5 million ABC viewers watched Sunday Silence win.
Viewership peaked at 20.1 million viewers from 7 to 7:15 p.m. EDT, as Mystik Dan edged second-place Sierra Leone and third-place Forever Young in the Kentucky Derby’s first three-horse photo finish since 1947. Saturday’s peak audience was the largest ever for an NBC Sports presentation of the Kentucky Derby.
Led by Peacock, the run for the roses posted NBC Sports’ largest streaming audience for a horse racing event with an average-minute audience of 714,000 viewers, nearly doubling last year's 371,000.
NBC Sports has averaged more than 15 million viewers across all platforms for 11 of the last 15 Kentucky Derby races held in May, 2009-2024, excluding the 2020 Covid-impacted event which was moved to September.
Saturday, NBC Sports and Churchill Downs announced an extension to their partnership, with NBC and Peacock continuing to be the media home of the Kentucky Derby through 2032. With the extension, NBCUniversal will become the first media company to present the most prestigious event in horse racing for three decades, 32 editions of the Kentucky Derby from 2001 to 32.
Additional Kentucky Derby viewership notes:
With 16.7 million viewers, the 2024 Kentucky Derby marks a 13 percent increase from last year’s event, which had 14.8 million viewers, and ranks as NBC’s most-watched program since the NFL divisional playoffs in January.
The NBC-TV household rating for the broadcast from 6:31 to 7:24 p.m. was 7.5/27, up 9 percent from last year. The 27 share is the highest ever for an NBC Sports Kentucky Derby presentation.
Total audience delivery is based upon live-plus-same day fast national figures from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
Mystik Dan was invited to take the next step toward the Triple Crown in the Preakness on May 18, but trainer Kenny McPeek said Sunday that he had not committed. NBC Sports’ coverage from Pimlico begins with the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday, May 17, at 4:30 p.m. on Peacock. NBC Sports presents the Preakness on Saturday, May 18, at 4:30 p.m. on NBC and Peacock, with coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. on CNBC and Peacock.