Kentucky Derby Gets Best Overnight Ratings in 18 Years

This weekend was pretty much a wash for me being away in Ithaca, NY on Saturday and then attending Boston Sports Blogapalooza on Sunday. I was hoping to blog from a Starbucks in the Collegetown section of Ithaca, but with it being exam time, every chair was filled and I could not get access to wireless. And of course, yesterday I was mingling with fellow bloggers in Boston so blogging was out as well.

I give you this press release that came into the Fang’s Bites inbox yesterday. NBC Sports had a very good rating for the Kentucky Derby.

BEST KENTUCKY DERBY OVERNIGHT RATING IN 18 YEARS

NEW YORK – May 2, 2010 – NBC Sports’ coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby earned the highest overnight rating for the race in 18 years since Lil E Tee won the Derby in 1992 (10.9/23 on ABC), according to data provided today from The Nielsen Company. The 10.3 overnight rating and 23 share of yesterday’s Kentucky Derby race showed a gain of one percent over last year’s race (10.2/22) and is up seven percent from 2008’s 9.5/21 rating that was fueled by the hype of super horse Big Brown.

These are preliminary overnight ratings. When the final viewership and national ratings are made available on Tuesday, the viewership for yesterday’s race should rival last year’s 16.3 million viewers that was the most-watched Kentucky Derby in 20 years.

NBC’S STRATEGIC ‘BIG EVENT’ MARKETING PAYS OFF, FIRST HOUR OF COVERAGE UP 21%: NBC Sports once again utilized used its strategic ‘Big Event’ approach to promote the Kentucky Derby to assemble the broadest possible audience. The broad-based promotion again proved successful with the first hour of coverage, that contained a mix of entertainment and horse racing elements, up 21 percent over last year. The 4-5 p.m. ET hour earned a 3.4 overnight rating vs. a 2.8 for that hour last year.

PREAKNESS STAKES ON NBC SPORTS, MAY 15: In two weeks, Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver with jockey Calvin Borel, who has won three of the last four Kentucky Derby’s, will take one more step to try to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 32 years, since Affirmed in 1978. NBC Sports’ coverage of The Preakness Stakes from Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore, Md., begins Saturday, May 15 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

After the race, Borel told NBC Sports reporter Donna Brothers, “You know what? I’m gonna win the triple crown this year.”

Good stuff.