Breeders' Cup Ratings Highest in 20 Years
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
American Pharoah's Breeders' Cup Classic victory
American Pharoah 's Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) victory helped NBC post the highest-rated Breeders' Cup telecast in 20 years.
A venue-record 50,155 watched the Triple Crown winner in person Oct. 31 at Keeneland in Lexington.
NBC's telecast (5:07-6:13 p.m. ET) earned a 2.6/6 household rating, marking the best rating for a Breeders' Cup telecast since 1995, when Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, now an NBC analyst, rode Cigar to his 12th consecutive victory (2.8/9 rating on NBC).
The 2.6/6 rating is up 53% from last year's primetime Breeders' Cup Classic (1.7/3), which featured dual classic winner California Chrome finishing third to Bayern.
An average of 4.6 million viewers tuned in between 5:45-6 p.m. ET, as American Pharoah ran to a 6 1/2-length victory, up 39% from last year's race quarter-hour (3.3 million).
Viewership for the complete 5:07-6:13 p.m. ET telecast averaged 3.9 million viewers to rank as the best Breeders' Cup telecast since 2010 and up 50% from last year (2.6 million viewers).
In addition, viewers streamed more than 275,000 live minutes via NBC Sports Live Extra on Saturday—more than triple last year's Breeders' Cup (88,000).