Kentucky Derby Draws Largest Television Audience Since 1989

The annual race was a multi-platform smash.

The Kentucky Derby field races on May 4, 2025. / Grace Hollars/The Courier-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Decades have passed since horse racing's cultural influence in America peaked—and yet the appeal of the Kentucky Derby endures.

17.7 million people watched the annual race on Saturday, according to a Sunday afternoon press release from NBC. The number marks the largest television audience for the event since Sunday Silence's victory in 1989. It was additionally the largest Derby audience on NBC, and the most-streamed Derby of all time.

Per the network, multi-platform viewership peaked at 21.8 million viewers from 7 to 7:15 ET, during the race itself. Sovereignty, jockeyed by Junior Alvarado and trained by Bill Mott, won the race by a length and a half over Journalism in sloppy conditions.

NBC has been the television home of the Kentucky Derby since 2001, when it took the rights from ABC—which had held them since 1975.

The network will also air the Preakness Stakes from Baltimore and Belmont Stakes from Elmont, N.Y. on May 17 and June 7, respectively

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