How Much Did Viewers Spend On The Derby This Year?

As the 150th Kentucky Derby comes to a close, records that have stood for a long time or as recently as last year were shattered. Attendance records, betting records and many others were shattered during the weekend.

From Churchill Downs , the Kentucky Derby day’s worth of racing set a record for the most amount of money bet on the race in its history at $320.5 million, up from last year’s $288.7 million. The single race had a record $210 million alone, beating 2023’s $188.7 million.

Over the course of the weekend, over $446 million was bet on all races at Churchill Downs.

As for viewership, there were also record numbers, with 16.7 million viewers on NBC, 15.9 million from Nielsen fast-nationals and a streaming audience of 714,000. This marks the largest audience for the event since 1989 on ABC, according to Sports Media Watch.

The three-way photo finish — which had Mystik Dan just ahead of Sierra Leone and Forever Young — captured the eyes of 20.1 million viewers from 7 to 7:15 p.m., which is the largest peak audience for the race on NBC since it began airing in 2001.