Saturday Final Nationals: Kentucky Derby on NBC Delivers its Largest Audience in 28 Years

Three broadcast networks — ABC, NBC and Fox — each televised sporting events on Saturday night with ABC victorious in prime time among total viewers (5.19 million) and all key demos with Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals: Golden State Warriors at Utah Jazz in the “2017 NBA Playoffs.”

Just before prime time, NBC’s telecast of the “143rd Kentucky Derby,” with the horse Always Dreaming winning the famous annual race, posted a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of 16.5 million viewers across NBC and NBC Sports Digital platforms – marking the largest Kentucky Derby audience since 1989 (18.5 million viewers for Sunday Silence’s win on ABC).

TV-only Kentucky Derby viewership peaked at 19.1 million viewers from 6:45-7:00 p.m. ET when Always Dreaming crossed the finish line 2¾ lengths ahead of Lookin at Lee – up 7 percent from the peaks of the past two Kentucky Derby races, won by Nyquist in 2016 and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015 (17.9 million for both).

The 143rd Kentucky Derby (6:24-7:11 p.m. ET) on NBC averaged 16.4 million TV-only viewers with a 9.3/22 household rating – up 6 percent and 3 percent respectively from last year.

NBC Sports Digital’s digital stream of the race also delivered a record 281,000 unique users. The Average Minute Audience (AMA) for the Kentucky Derby via the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com was 97,800 viewers.

Louisville, the home of the Kentucky Derby, topped the metered markets with a 39.0 rating/65 share (top 20 markets listed at bottom).

For the second consecutive year, NBC aired a Stanley Cup Playoff game in primetime after the Kentucky Derby. With Saturday’s puck drop shortly after Always Dreaming’s victory, Game 5 of the Penguins-Capitals second-round series delivered a Total Audience Delivery average of 4.365 million viewers (4.33 million from TV; 35,000 via streaming), making it the most-watched early-round Stanley Cup Playoff game in People Meter history (1993) as well as the second-most watched non-Stanley Cup Final game in 24 years, behind only the Chicago-Anaheim Western Conference Final Game 7 in 2015 (4.636 million).

(Source: NBC)

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* AFF = Number of affiliates (stations) airing the program
* CVG = percent of coverage in U.S.
	Saturday, May 6, 2017
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			3.2/7	5190		1.6/8	1.9/7
8:00	NBA Countdown	250	93	1.6/3	2312	0.4/3	0.6/3	0.7/3
8:29	NBA Playoffs Western Conference Second Round Game 3: Golden State @ Utah (s) (thru 11:12)	250	93	3.6/7	5911	1.6/10	1.9/9	2.1/8
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			2.4/5	3714	0.2/1	0.4/2	0.6/2
8:00	Crimetime Saturday NCIS (r)	253	92	2.4/5	3693	0.2/1	0.3/2	0.5/2
9:00	Training Day	252	92	2.1/4	3189	0.2/1	0.3/1	0.5/2
10:00	48 Hours	253	93	2.8/6	4259	0.3/2	0.6/2	0.9/3
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			1.7/4	3160		1.0/5	1.2/5
6:24	143rd Kentucky Derby (s)			9.3/22	16445		3.0
7:11	NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Semifinals Game 5: Pittsburgh @ Washington (s)	244	93	2.4/5	4330	1.0/7	1.3/6	1.6/6
10:00	Saturday Night Live (r)	244	93	1.4/3	2495	0.5/3	0.7/3	0.9/3
	PROGRAM	AFF*	CVG* (PCT)	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			1.4/3	2220		0.5/3	0.7/3
7:12	Fox Saturday Baseball N.Y. Yankees @ Chicago Cubs (s) (thru 10:39)	255	93	1.4/3	2246	0.4/2	0.5/3	0.7/3
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			0.5/1	892		0.4/2
7:00	Crónicas de Sábado			0.6/1	994		0.3/2
8:00	Liga MX Cruz Azul vs. León			0.5/1	905		0.4/2
10:00	Liga MX Pachuca vs. America (thru 12:01 a.m.)			0.5/1	877		0.4/2
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average			0.3/1	574		0.2/1
6:00	Cine Operación Peligrosa (2008)			0.3/1	656		0.2/1
8:00	Cine Abajo el Telón (1955)			0.4/1	658		0.2/1
10:00	Los Mosqueteros			0.2/0	405		0.3″1/1
	PROGRAM			HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average (preliminary)			0.3/1	591	0.2/1	0.2/1
8:00	Cine The Warrior’s Way (2010) (preliminary)			0.3/1	542	0.1/1	0.2/1
8:30	Cine Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (preliminary)			0.3/1	558	0.1/1	0.2/1
9:00	Cine Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (preliminary)			0.3/1	558	0.1/1	0.2/1
9:30	Cine Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (preliminary)			0.3/1	590	0.2/1	0.2/1
10:00	Cine Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (preliminary)			0.4/1	664	0.2/1	0.3/1
10:30	Cine Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) (preliminary)			0.4/1	633	0.2/1	0.2/1

Note: All of this date’s Telemundo data are based on preliminary figures.

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Saturday 5/06/17

For the entire week of May 1-7, 2017 in Total Day (8 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), Adult Swim is down -3 percent in viewership (0.785 million vs. 0.809 million) and down -4 percent among Adults 18-49 (476,000 vs. 495,000) from one week earlier; the network is also down -24 percent in total viewership (0.785 million vs. 1.035 million) and down -21 percent among Adults 18-49 (476,000 vs. 602,000) from the same week one year ago (May 2-8, 2016). (https://programmingins.wpengine.com/?p=16870)

	PROGRAM	HH	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
8:00	Dragon Ball Super	0.53	879	0.29	378
8:30	Bob’s Burgers (r)	0.44	691	0.28	356
9:00	Rick & Morty (r)	0.53	820	0.35	443
9:30	Rick & Morty (r)	0.57	875	0.38	485
10:00	Family Guy (r)	0.68	1067	0.46	597
10:30	Family Guy (r)	0.76	1172	0.53	683

TOONAMI – SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2017

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
11:00	Samurai Jack	1358	0.61	789
11:30	Dragon Ball Super (r)	986	0.44	567
12:00a	Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters	925	0.40	519
12:30a	Attack on Titan	771	0.35	447
1:00a	Tokyo Ghoul	713	0.33	423
1:30a	Hunter X Hunter	649	0.30	379
2:00a	Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn	550	0.26	333
2:30a	Naruto: Shippuden	539	0.25	327
3:00a	Ghost in the Shell (r)	515	0.23	299

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
3:30a	Bob’s Burgers (r)	500	0.24	307
4:00a	Rick & Morty (r)	533	0.28	357
4:30a	Rick & Morty (r)	535	0.26	334
5:00a	King of the Hill (r)	561	0.25	323
5:30a	King of the Hill (r)	528	0.23	292

Cable Rankings – Saturday 5/06/17

What follows are the top 200 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Saturday, May 6:

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research