Kentucky Derby viewership climbs despite attendance dip

Field Level Media|published: 05/05/2025, 2:42pm EDT

Jockey Junior Alvarado celebrated after riding Sovereignty to victory in the 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. May 3, 2025

Saturday's Kentucky Derby surpassed last year's viewership total as the most-watched edition of the race since 1989, according to the early numbers.

Sovereignty's victory in the season's first Triple Crown race averaged 17.7 million viewers on NBC, according to a combination of Nielsen fast-national numbers and Adobe Analytics.

That surpassed the 2024 total of 16.7 million as the most since 18.5 million watched the Kentucky Derby in 1989.

The record streaming audience of 959,000 was a 34 percent spike over last year's total of 714,000.

Viewership peaked at 21.8 million viewers just after 7 p.m. ET, when Sovereignty held off favorite Journalism to win. That was an 8 percent jump from the 2024 peak audience of 20.1 million.

Attendance suffered on a rainy day at Churchill Downs, with the crowd of 147,406 down nearly 6 percent from the previous year.

The track announced that wagering from all sources on Saturday's race card totaled $349 million, breaking last year's record of $320.5 million. Betting on the Kentucky Derby alone was a record $234.4 million, topping the sum of $210.7 million from 2024.

--Field Level Media