Travers Registers Best Ratings in 20 Years
Image:
Description:
Fans packed the race track in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and tuned to NBC in big numbers this past Saturday, Aug. 29, for American Pharoah's second-place finish in the Travers Stakes (gr. I).
Viewership for the NBC telecast peaked at 3.4 million viewers between 5:45-6:05 p.m. EDT, as Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was edged in the stretch run by Keen Ice.
Compared to American Pharoah's victory in NBC's one-hour William Hill Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I) telecast Aug. 2, viewership for the 5-6 pm EDT hour of the Travers Stakes increased 32% (2.5 million for Travers; 1.9 million for Haskell).
NBC's full telecast (4-6:05 p.m. ET), averaged 2 million viewers to rank as the most-watched Travers telecast in 20 years (3.4 million viewers on 8/19/95, ABC). Saturday's full telecast viewership was up 104% from last year's Travers Stakes on NBC (981,000).
In addition, viewers streamed 199,000 live minutes via NBC Sports Live Extra on Saturday, up 707% from last year's Travers.
NBC Sports Group's coverage of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series continues Sept. 5 with live coverage of the $750,000 Woodward Stakes (gr. I) from Saratoga at 5 p.m. EDT on NBCSN.