Saturday Final Nationals: Kentucky Derby on NBC Tops 15 Million for Fourth Straight Year

Portland Trail Blazers’ 120-108 Game 3 victory over the Steph Curry-less Golden State Warriors in the NBA Western Conference Semifinals gave ABC a decisive Saturday night win among total viewers (5.16 million), adults 18-49 (1.7 rating/7 share), adults 18-34 (1.5/8), and adults 25-54 (1.9/7).

NBC also enjoyed positive ratings from the early evening with the 142nd running of the “Kentucky Derby” (6:21-7:08 p.m. ET) which averaged a 9.0 household rating/21 share and 15.5 million viewers – marking the fourth consecutive year (and sixth time in eight years: 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) the “Run for the Roses” has topped 15 million viewers on NBC, according to final data provided by The Nielsen Company. (The event hadn’t exceeded a 15 million average in telecast viewership from 1991-2008).

Viewership peaked with 17.9 million viewers from 6:45-7:00 p.m. ET when winner Nyquist crossed the finish line, matching the peak from last year’s Kentucky Derby victory by Triple Crown champion American Pharoah.

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby is the most-watched weekend sporting event since Super Bowl 50.

Saturday’s pre-race coverage, which included the 6 p.m. ET show open narrated by Kentucky’s own Ashley Judd, averaged 9.3 million viewers – second-best ever for a pre-race show (since 1992).

Louisville, the home of the Kentucky Derby, topped the metered markets with a 33.7 rating/62 share.

For the first time ever, NBC aired a Stanley Cup Playoff game in primetime after the Kentucky Derby. With Saturday’s puck drop shortly after Nyquist’s victory, Game 5 of the Penguins-Capitals second-round series (7:08-10:05 p.m. ET) averaged 4.164 million viewers – ranking as the second-most watched non-Stanley Cup Final game on record (since 1993). The game also posted a 2.40 household rating, making it the second-highest rated non-Stanley Cup Final game ever on NBC (since 2006). Saturday night’s game trails only last year’s Western Conference Final Game 7 matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks on NBC in both categories (5/30/15; 4.601 million viewers and 2.61 household rating).

Through all available games on NBC, the playoffs have posted 1.983 million average viewers (up 8% from NBC’s comparable coverage of the playoffs last year);

Pittsburgh – Game 5 produced a 19.8 rating in Pittsburgh to rank as the highest-rated Penguins game on NBC in the market since the 2013 Eastern Conference Final (6/1/13; 23.2);

Washington D.C. – Game 5 produced a 7.7 rating in Washington D.C. to rank as the highest-rated Capitals game on NBC in the market since the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals vs. Boston (4/22/12; 8.7);

NBC was the No. 1 network in both Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. during the game.

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	Saturday, May 7, 2016
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	3.2/6	5162	1.5/8	1.7/7	1.9/7
8:00	NBA Countdown (s)	1.7/4	2578	0.5/3	0.6/3	0.8/3
8:32	NBA Western Conference Semifinals Game 3 Golden State Warriors @ Portland Trail Blazers (s) (thru 11:14)	3.6/7	5848	1.7/9	2.0/8	2.2/8
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	2.3/5	3511	0.3/2	0.5/2	0.7/3
8:00	Crimetime Saturday: Scorpion (r)	1.7/3	2595	0.2/1	0.3/2	0.5/2
9:00	Crimetime Saturday: Criminal Minds (r)	2.0/4	3021	0.3/2	0.4/2	0.6/2
10:00	48 Hours	3.3/7	4916	0.5/2	0.8/3	1.1/4
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	1.8/4	3002	0.7/4	1.0/4	1.2/4
6:21	142nd Kentucky Derby (s)	9.0/21	15500
7:08	NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 5 Pittsburgh Penguins @ Washington Capitals (s)	2.4/5	4164	0.9/6	1.2/6	1.5/6
10:05	Saturday Night Live (r)	1.3/3	1976	0.4/2	0.6/2	0.8/3
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.6/1	937	0.2/1	0.2/1	0.3/1
8:00	Houdini & Doyle (r)	0.7/2	1115	0.2/1	0.3/1	0.3/1
9:01	American Grit (r)	0.5/1	753	0.2/1	0.2/1	0.3/1
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.7/1	1120		0.4/2
5:50	Fútbol Mexicano: Cruz Azul vs. Tigres (s) (thru 7:48)	0.4/1	856		0.4/2
8:00	Compartiendo Entre Amigas (s)	0.5/1	744		0.2/1
9:00	Cronicas de Sabado	0.8/1	1314		0.4/2
10:00	Sal y Pimienta	0.8/2	1301		0.4/2
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.4/1	804		0.3/1
7:00	Cine El Supersabio (1948)	0.3/1	592		0.2/1
9:00	Cine En La Sangre (2014) (thru 11:00)	0.4/1	864		0.3/1

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Saturday 5/07/16

For the entire week of May 2-8, 2016 in Total Day (8 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), Adult Swim is up +2 percent in total viewership (1.035 million vs. 1.010 million) from one week earlier; the network is also down -9 percent in total viewership (1.035 million vs. 1.136 million) and down -9 percent among Adults 18-49 (602,000 vs. 660,000) from the same week one year ago (May 4-10, 2015). (https://programmingins.wpengine.com/?p=7960)

	PROGRAM	HH	Viewers (000)	A18-49 rating
8:00	Dragon Ball Z Kai (r)	0.43	639	0.18
8:30	King of the Hill (r)	0.40	555	0.18
9:00	King of the Hill (r)	0.45	623	0.23
9:30	The Cleveland Show (r)	0.57	857	0.33
10:00	The Cleveland Show (r)	0.67	990	0.42
10:30	American Dad (r)	0.77	1185	0.51
11:00	Family Guy (r)		1473	0.66
11:30	Family Guy (r)		1638	0.74

TOONAMI – SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2016

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
12:00a	Dragon Ball Z Kai	1370	0.67	844
12:30a	Dimension W	1167	0.60	764
1:00a	Hunter X Hunter	1057	0.54	684
1:30a	Samurai Champloo	963	0.48	606
2:00a	Naruto: Shippuden	863	0.41	525
2:30a	One Piece	746	0.36	453
3:00a	Parasyte: The Maxim (r)	657	0.32	400

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating
3:30a	The Cleveland Show (r)	619	0.28
4:00a	The Cleveland Show (r)	654	0.31
4:30a	American Dad (r)	664	0.31
5:00a	King of the Hill (r)	670	0.30
5:30a	King of the Hill (r)	673	0.29

Cable Rankings – Saturday 05/07/16

What follows are the top 100 most-watched shows in prime time on cable (by order of network) for Saturday, May 7:

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research