The infield and grandstands should be full again this year, especially with decent weather predicted - mostly cloudy, high of 75 degrees, and a 24-percent chance of rain. Last year, the event was back to near full capacity, with a reported 147,000 attendees. The following year, it was back to its traditional first-Saturday-in-May schedule but with track capacity limited to about 52,000 instead of the usual 150,000 fans inside vast Churchill Downs. In 2020, the pandemic forced rescheduling to September, putting it up against football and siphoning TV viewership to a record-low 9.3 million average. This year’s race will also be the second year of full normalcy for the Kentucky Derby. That averages out at more than $286,000 per spot (but probably is priced less thanks to multi-spot discounts and other enticements). ![]() Last year, 37 advertisers spent a combined $33.8 million for 118 spots (61 unique) during the day’s coverage of the derby and other races at Churchill Downs, according to data analyzed by Sports Business Journal. NBC packages its ad inventory across the day’s coverage, and while its pricing isn’t disclosed, it doesn’t command Super Bowl-level rates. ![]() The derby’s commercial airtime gets more expensive the closer a brand buys a spot to the start of the race, which obviously doesn’t have commercials while the horses are charging around the track. The difference, obviously, is that much more ad inventory is available *during* the hours-long Super Bowl and its enormous audience. That’s akin to the Super Bowl, where $7 million bought 30 seconds of airtime on average, with ads near kickoff and other proven eyeball-heavy moments priced the highest. But with such a brief window of actual racing, which leaves no room for commercials, the basic strategy is to sell ads at increasingly bigger premiums closer to post time. So there is plenty of airtime and content against which NBC can sell advertising. Such theater could have moved the needle for the next year’s derby audience numbers, but we all know what happened to live sports in 2020.Īnd as per tradition, a notable person will be giving the “riders up” command - this year, it’s Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. (Note: The peak audience isn’t the same as the average audience.) Viewership for that derby peaked at 18.5 million for the 20-minute post-race controversy, after the actual race had ended. Perhaps most famously, Maximum Security won the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but immediately after the race, the result was reviewed, and race officials opted to make second-place finisher Country House the winner and disqualify Maximum Security for impeding other horses on the track. Friday.Ĭertainly, pre-race hype and drama can boost eyeball numbers, and the later Preakness and Belmont Stakes races can benefit from the anticipation of a Triple Crown winner coming out of the derby, but the derby itself generally doesn’t get unexpected audience surges. NBC-owned USA Network and Peacock will broadcast the Kentucky Oaks, which is for fillies, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday also will mark the second year that NBC’s Peacock streaming service will carry the race and its festivities live on the paid tier. Starting at noon, NBC will air live coverage of some of the day’s other races, too, but the focus remains on the derby. The Kentucky Derby is the day’s 12th race of 14 on Saturday, with a post time of 6:57 p.m. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Secretariat winning the 1973 Kentucky Derby with a still-unbroken record time of 1:59.4, so expect coverage of that historic moment. Others watch the derby out of tradition and for the ersatz antebellum pageantry of ornate hats, seersucker suits, mint juleps, celebrities, the crowd singing “My Old Kentucky Home,” and perhaps the debauched infield where 50,000 people get up to 120-proof tomfoolery. The race winner gets $1.86 million of the $3 million purse. As of Tuesday, there are four 50-1 longshots in the derby field. But many may tune in for the possible thrill of a longshot winning (and the associated wagering). This year’s current favorite is Forte, the recent Florida Derby winner. Rich Strike (81-1 odds) wins the 148th Kentucky Derby □ #KyDerby ONE OF THE BIGGEST UPSETS IN KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY. So what sort of TV audience should we expect?Ī year ago, the race averaged 16 million viewers (it’s best since pre-pandemic 2019) and was won by feel-good story Rich Strike, whose 80-1 odds made his victory the event’s second-biggest longshot upset since Donerail overcame 91-1 odds to win in 1913. (and also on the Telemundo Deportes site and app). New this year is live Spanish-language coverage of the race by NBC’s Telemundo Deportes airing on its premium cable channel Universo beginning at 6:30 p.m.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |