Kentucky Derby
Nielsen average audience: 18,030,000 viewers (final), per Sports Media Watch.
- Aired
- 2026-05-02 Saturday
18,030,000
Nielsen avg audience · via press
single source · final
figures last changed 2026-05-04
Published figures
JSONNielsen1 figure
via pressaverage audienceLead figure
match only / race segment / TV only · final
press-attributed · Sports Media Watch
18,030,000
… 18.03M viewers) and Adobe Analytics (1.3M), marking the largest audience for the event in the Nielsen people meter era (1989-present) …Sports Media Watch, verbatim
blend1 figure
via pressaverage audience
combined / match only / race segment / Big Data + Panel / TV + streaming · final
press-attributed · Sports Media Watch
19,300,000
Saturday's race segment of the Kentucky Derby averaged a combined 19.3 million viewers across Nielsen (7.9 rating, 18.03M viewers) and Adobe Analytics (1.3M) …Sports Media Watch, verbatim
2 press attributions · no provider-published figure · single source
combined counts all networks and streams · press-attributed = reported by press citing the provider
combined counts all networks and streams · press-attributed = reported by press citing the provider
Prior-season comparable
17,700,000
2025-05-03 · NBC · Nielsen, final · Awful Announcing
+1.9% vs the comparable
Site-computed: same league, same weekday, the only such window within a week of 52 weeks earlier; Nielsen average, final or revised.
Kentucky Derby by year
2009–2026Record
18.0M 2026
This telecast
#1 of 1 Big Data + Panel
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 2026-10-30 23:10 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 |