Preakness television viewership up 30 percent from 2019

Total viewership of the NBC broadcast of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course late on Saturday afternoon averaged seven million viewers, according to the broadcast network, a significant gain over the viewership number for the last time the race was held in its traditional slot, in 2019.

The viewership number was up 30 percent over the 2019 number of 5.4 million viewers. This year’s Preakness, which was won by Rombauer, drew outsized media attention in the lead-up to the race due to the controversy surrounding the Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, who finished third in the race as the favorite.

The viewership number peaked at 8.6 million viewers during the last 15 minutes of the broadcast, when the race was run, according to NBC.

Attendance at this year’s Preakness was capped at 10,000 due to coronavirus protocols. The race typically draws approximately 125,000 spectators. The top metered market for the race was Baltimore, the home of Pimlico Race Course, followed by Ft. Myers, Fla., and Louisville, Ky.

Last year’s Preakness was held in October as the last race in an asterisked Triple Crown series that was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The viewership number for that broadcast was a modern low for the series, with only 2.4 million viewers.

The presence of Medina Spirit was controversial due to the announcement on the Sunday prior to the race that the colt had tested positive for a regulated corticosteroid, betamethasone, after the Derby. The announcement was made by the colt’s trainer, Bob Baffert, who is the most recognizable person in the sport due to his unparalleled success in Triple Crown races over the past 25 years, including training Triple Crown winners in 2015 and 2018.

Handle on the Preakness Stakes and its undercard set records this year, although those numbers were likely juiced by less competition for Pimlico in the simulcast marketplace this year. Three tracks in Pimlico’s time zone that ran on Preakness Day in 2019 did not run on Saturday this year.