Preakness overnight TV rating climbs 12 percent

The Preakness Stakes broadcast on NBC on Saturday from Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore posted a 5.5 overnight rating and a 12 share, according to the network, a 12 percent gain in the rating over last year.

The rating increase came two weeks after the overnight rating for the Derby posted a 13 percent decline to a 9.1. Bad weather on Saturday in many top Eastern markets may have contributed to the increase by keeping people indoors for most of the day. The Preakness was won by Justify, the winner of the Derby, who now will be pointed to the Belmont Stakes, promising big business returns for the final leg in the Triple Crown if he makes the race.

Rating is a numerical measure of the number of people watching the broadcast, a somewhat antiquated metric that does not include the number of people watching the stream digitally. Share is the percentage of televisions in use tuned into a specific broadcast, meaning one in eight televisions in use were tuned to the Preakness.

Total viewership numbers, including digital streams, are typically released several days after a broadcast.

The broadcast peaked at race time with an overnight rating of 6.6 and a share of 15, NBC said. The Derby broadcast had a peak rating of 10.9 and a peak share of 25. The top markets for the Preakness were Louisville, Ky., at 15.2/30, Baltimore (14.9/31), Tampa (10.7/20), and Washington, D.C. (10.3/23), according to NBC.

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