Kentucky Derby
Nielsen average audience: 16,400,000 viewers (preliminary), per Sports Media Watch.
- Aired
- 2017-05-06 Saturday
- Networks
- NBC
16,400,000
Nielsen avg audience · via press
single source · preliminary
figures last changed 2017-05-08
Published figures
JSONNielsen1 figure
16,400,000
The race portion of the Kentucky Derby delivered a 9.3 rating and 16.4 million viewersSports Media Watch, verbatim
1 press attribution · no provider-published figure · single source
press-attributed = reported by press citing the provider
press-attributed = reported by press citing the provider
Prior-season comparable
15,500,000
2016-05-07 · NBC · Nielsen, final · Sports Media Watch
+5.8% vs the comparable
Site-computed: same league, same weekday, both on NBC, nearest to 52 weeks earlier; Nielsen average, final or revised.
Kentucky Derby by year
2009–2026Record
18.0M 2026
This telecast
#2 of 9 Before Out-of-Home
Years on record
16 2009–2026
Nielsen average audience · one telecast per year
- Before Out-of-Homebefore Sept 2020
- Panel + Out-of-HomeSept 2020 – Sept 2025
- Big Data + Panelsince Sept 2025
- preliminary
16 eligible telecasts · computed 2026-11-04 21:06 UTC
| Year | Telecast | Avg audience |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Kentucky Derby | 16,300,000 |
| 2010 | Kentucky Derby | 16,500,000 |
| 2011 | Kentucky Derby | 14,540,000 |
| 2012 | Kentucky Derby | 14,800,000 |
| 2013 | Kentucky Derby | 16,200,000 |
| 2015 | Kentucky Derby | 16,000,000 |
| 2016 | Kentucky Derby | 15,500,000 |
| 2017 | Kentucky Derby | 16,400,000 |
| 2019 | Kentucky Derby | 16,340,000 |
| 2020 | Kentucky Derby | 9,260,000 |
| 2021 | Kentucky Derby | 14,370,000 |
| 2022 | Kentucky Derby | 15,790,000 |
| 2023 | Kentucky Derby | 14,400,000 |
| 2024 | Kentucky Derby | 15,970,000 |
| 2025 | Kentucky Derby | 17,700,000 |
| 2026 | Kentucky Derby | 18,030,000 |