2024 Kentucky Derby broadcast draws largest audience since 1989

Saturday’s broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on NBC drew the highest audience for the race since 1989, according to figures distributed by the network.

The Total Audience Delivery measure – which includes streaming viewership – was an average of 16.7 million viewers during the race portion of the broadcast, from 6 p.m. Eastern to 7:15 p.m., according to NBC. That was the highest figure since the Derby win by Sunday Silence in 1989, when viewership for the single television broadcast was 18.9 million viewers.

Viewership peaked at 20.1 million viewers during the race itself, according to NBC, the highest figure ever recorded for a Derby. Peak viewership is a relatively new metric for television audiences, made possible by new technologies developed over the past decade.

The average viewership figure was up 13 percent over last year’s Toal Audience Delivery of 14.8 million, according to NBC.

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The more traditional measure of rating was up 9 percent over last year, to a 7.5. Share, which measures the number of televisions in use at the time tuned to the broadcast, was a 27. The share figure also was the highest recorded for a Derby broadcast on NBC, which has had the Derby rights since 2001.

Churchill Downs was celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Derby this year, and NBC surrounded the lead-up to the event with teasers and promotional segments across all of its networks, which includes Peacock and the USA Network.

On Saturday morning, NBC and Churchill announced that they had extended their current broadcast rights deal to 2032. The deal was set to expire after next year’s Derby.

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