Our Clients:

Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

May 5, 2025 2:34 pm

Kentucky Derby viewership climbs despite attendance dip

sovereignty

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby surpassed last year’s viewership total as the most-watched edition of the race since 1989, according to the early numbers.

Sovereignty’s victory in the season’s first Triple Crown race averaged 17.7 million viewers on NBC, according to a combination of Nielsen fast-national numbers and Adobe Analytics.

That surpassed the 2024 total of 16.7 million as the most since 18.5 million watched the Kentucky Derby in 1989.

The record streaming audience of 959,000 was a 34 percent spike over last year’s total of 714,000.

Viewership peaked at 21.8 million viewers just after 7 p.m. ET, when Sovereignty held off favorite Journalism to win. That was an 8 percent jump from the 2024 peak audience of 20.1 million.

Attendance suffered on a rainy day at Churchill Downs, with the crowd of 147,406 down nearly 6 percent from the previous year.

The track announced that wagering from all sources on Saturday’s race card totaled $349 million, breaking last year’s record of $320.5 million. Betting on the Kentucky Derby alone was a record $234.4 million, topping the sum of $210.7 million from 2024.

–Field Level Media

You may also like

olympic flag paris
Jun 23, 2025 11:39 am

Gold medalist Kirsty Coventry takes over as IOC president

Kirsty Coventry took over as president of the International Olympic Committee on Monday, becoming the first woman and first African to lead the organization. In a ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland,…

D. Wayne Lukas derby
Jun 23, 2025 10:34 am

Hall of Fame horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas reportedly in hospice care

Hall of Fame horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas is gravely ill and has retired immediately. The Lukas family issued a statement Sunday that said the 89-year-old had been hospitalized with…

Fred Smith, Memphis
Jun 22, 2025 2:54 pm

Sports world mourns death of FedEx founder Fred Smith

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx Corp. and a notable financer of various sporting endeavors, has died at the age of 80, his company announced Sunday. Smith, a Marine Corps…

More Other News

olympic flag paris
Jun 23, 2025 11:39 am

Gold medalist Kirsty Coventry takes over as IOC president

Kirsty Coventry took over as president of the International Olympic Committee on Monday, becoming the first woman and first African to lead the organization. In a ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland,…

D. Wayne Lukas derby
Jun 23, 2025 10:34 am

Hall of Fame horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas reportedly in hospice care

Fred Smith, Memphis
Jun 22, 2025 2:54 pm

Sports world mourns death of FedEx founder Fred Smith

Joey Chestnut, Nathan's
Jun 16, 2025 11:20 am

Joey Chestnut returning to Nathan’s hot dog contest

Grand Slam Track
Jun 12, 2025 11:42 am

Report: Grand Slam Track to cancel season-ending L.A. event

Read all
fb-post
advertisment
title-icon

Upcoming events

See all odds
[gs-fb-comments]