NBC Sports’ Overnight Television Ratings Highest For Derby Since 1992

The following appeared in The Paulick Report May 7th

NBC Sports’ coverage of the 145th Kentucky Derby on NBC followed immediately by the primetime Columbus Blue Jackets-Boston Bruins NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Game 5 on Saturday delivered multiple overnight ratings milestones, according to data provided by Nielsen.

“We hit the trifecta last night, with the historic drama of the Kentucky Derby and two one-goal Stanley Cup Playoff games,” said Sam Flood, President, Production, NBC Sports & NBCSN. “With the unanticipated and unprecedented conclusion of the Derby leading into Columbus-Boston Game 5, we were able to capitalize on the audience opportunity and set ratings milestones across the board.”

Country House’s victory in the “Run for the Roses” delivered a 10.9/25 overnight rating – matching 1992 as the best overnight for a Kentucky Derby since 1990. In addition, the 10.9/25 for the Kentucky Derby (6:30-7:30pm ET race portion) is up 20% from last year’s race (9.1/21) featuring eventual Triple Crown winner Justify, and marks television’s best Saturday overnight since the NFL Divisional Playoffs (Jan. 12, 2019).

The overnight rating peaked at an 11.9/27 from 6:45-7 p.m. ET, as Country House and Maximum Security crossed the finish line. Louisville, the home of the Kentucky Derby, topped the metered markets with a 39.5 rating/69 share (top 20 markets below).

The unexpected drama of the Kentucky Derby provided a large lead-in audience for Columbus-Boston Game 5 on NBC. The result was a 3.22 overnight rating, the second-highest overnight for a Stanley Cup Playoff game on record (since 1994), excluding Stanley Cup Final games. Blue Jackets-Bruins Game 5 trails only a 3.27 overnight rating for Chicago-Anaheim in 2015, which was a Game 7 of the Western Conference Final, among non-Stanley Cup Final games. Last night’s game was up 12% vs. last year’s Pittsburgh-Washington Game 5 (2.87), which also led out of the Kentucky Derby.

Columbus delivered a 15.2 local rating for Game 5, NBC Sports’ highest rating on record for an NHL game in the market. Boston scored a 15.1 rating.

Last night’s late Stanley Cup Playoff Game 5 between Colorado and San Jose delivered a 0.75 overnight rating, up 75% vs. the comparable game last year (Winnipeg-Nashville; 0.58).

 TOP METERED MARKETS FOR 2019 KENTUCKY DERBY (Race Portion)

1.Louisville39.5/69
2.Cincinnati20.3/38
3.Ft. Myers19.4/37
4.Indianapolis18.6/34
5.Knoxville17.9/30
T6.Dayton17.6/33
T6.Buffalo17.6/32
8.West Palm Beach17.1/31
9.Tampa16.5/32
10.Columbus16.2/31
11.Providence15.7/29
12.Boston15.4/33
13.Cleveland14.9/30
14.Orlando14.8/31
15.Baltimore14.3/30
16.Hartford13.4/26
17.New Orleans13.1/23
18.Pittsburgh13.0/27
T19.Greenville12.7/21
T19.Milwaukee12.7/27