Kentucky Derby
Nielsen average audience: 17,700,000 viewers (final), per Awful Announcing.
- Aired
- 2025-05-03 Saturday
- Networks
- NBC
17,700,000
Nielsen avg audience · via press
multiple sources · 2 sources · final
figures last changed 2025-05-04
Published figures
JSONNielsen2 figures
17,700,000
NBC's broadcast of the Kentucky Derby averaged 17.7 million viewersAwful Announcing, verbatim
17,700,000
Saturday's race portion of the Kentucky Derby averaged 17.7 million viewersSports Media Watch, verbatim
2 press attributions · no provider-published figure · multiple sources
press-attributed = reported by press citing the provider
press-attributed = reported by press citing the provider
Prior-season comparable
15,970,000
2024-05-04 · NBC · Nielsen, final · Sports Media Watch
+10.8% 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
#1 of 6 Panel + Out-of-Home
Years on record
15 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
15 eligible telecasts · computed 2026-10-23 01:13 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 |
| 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 |