GOOD NEWS FRIDAY sponsored by Liberation Farm: TV RATINGS ARE UP, IS RACING?
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By Bradford Cummings
Oftentimes, the racing industry loses sight of what is important when trying to market its product. Talk of increased handle, while necessary for the bottom line of racetracks, does not change the public perception and momentum of a sport that has continued a slow and steady slide over the last 20 years. In order to grow this sport, racing needs new fans, not old fans making more bets.
So when the ratings came out for the Kentucky Derby and most recently the Preakness Stakes, it was a breath of fresh air and a much-needed shot in the arm for the psyche of racing. The first two legs of the Triple Crown brought in an average of 13.4 million viewers, the most since 1989 when Sunday Silence won both Classics over Easy Goer in a spirited East vs. West rivalry.
Individually, the Kentucky Derby brought in 16.3 million viewers with a 9.8 rating and 23 share, up 2.1 million viewers from last year. The Preakness came in at a strong 10.9 million viewers, pulling a 6.8 rating and 16 share. This number was up 3 million viewers from last year’s version with Big Brown easily pulling away from the field.
For those not familiar with the television ratings system, the Derby’s 9.8 rating means that 9.8% of all households with televisions were tuned into NBC’s telecast on the first Saturday of May while the 23 share means 23% of all televisions in use watched Mine That Bird pull an unprecedented upset. That means nearly a quarter of all Americans watching television showed an interest in racing’s biggest event.
Perhaps most significant was the true lack of a compelling storyline going into the race. Most of the favorites had been sidelined before the Derby, and morning line favorite I Want Revenge was scratched the morning of the race with an injury, leaving what has been proved to be an overrated colt from the Louisiana circuit in Friesan Fire as the betting choice. And while other sports have the ability to build audience throughout the course of a 3 hour game, the fact that a 50-1 shot won the race would have had virtually no effect on the ratings because of how quickly the telecast ends.
Much credit must go to NBC, which did an admirable job selling the event throughout the week prior with promos on mainstream mainstays like the Today Show and investing in a solid marketing campaign. The fact a long shot won only added to the mystique of the Derby they so effectively sold.
That momentum allowed for the male vs. female storyline to be created with Rachel Alexandra and the unintended positive consequences of media coverage from Mark Allen and Ahmed Zayat’s conspiring to keep her on the sidelines. Proving the old adage there’s no such thing as bad press, the Preakness well out performed every other running this decade except for Smarty Jones in 2004, which brought a 7.7 rating and 23 share.
Of course, all of these numbers are irrelevant without some perspective and comparison to other top events in high profile professional U.S. sports. While the Kentucky Derby will not be in the same league as the Super Bowl anytime soon with its 42 rating, racing’s biggest day in 2009 stands incredibly strong with other major championship equivalents.
The final game of the NBA Championship from last year, in a matchup of the two most storied franchises in the league, drew only 12.6 million viewers. The Stanley Cup Playoffs featuring the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins never saw more than 6.8 million folks tune in to a game. The Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR, was down this year to a modest 15.95 million television fans. Even America’s Pastime peaked with just 15.49 million at home spectators during last year’s final World Series game.
Something the ratings do not take into account is the large number of racing fans who watch and wager on events like the Triple Crown races and Breeders’ Cup at a local track or simulcast site. Kentucky Derby Day is the biggest day of the year at some tracks, and those in attendance are not counted as television viewers.
| SPORTING EVENT | VIEWERS (MILLIONS) |
| Super Bowl (Steelers vs. Cardinals) | 95.4 |
| 2009 Kentucky Derby | 16.3 |
| Daytona 500 | 15.95 |
| World Series Game 5 (Phillies vs. Rays) | 15.49 |
| NBA Championship Game 6 (Lakers vs. Celtics) | 12.6 |
| 2009 Preakness Stakes | 10.9 |
| Stanley Cup Game 6 (Red Wings vs. Penguins) | 6.8 |
This ranks the Kentucky Derby as the second most watched professional sporting championship of the last year, a fact few in the industry would have assumed. And the news is actually better than it looks. Wedged in at around 6 p.m. EST and potentially distracted by the dinner bell or an eventful Saturday, a viewer more likely schedules their day around the Derby coverage whereas a typical championship game appears during the primetime hours of 8-11 pm. That coupled with the lack of build up for the average racing fan as evidenced by the paltry ratings of preps like the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby, means racing has a legitimate opportunity to capture the imagination of the public if marketed correctly.
With drug issues and safety concerns being taken seriously, there will be an opening for racing to breeze through. Will we take the opening and shoot through like Mine That Bird’s last to first rally on May 2nd? Will we look at what we have and figure out how to sell this beautiful sport to the masses beyond the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes? Can we turn the Breeders’ Cup into a legitimate championship that builds from January on?
The good news is we can.
Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them. To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.
Previous Good News Friday subjects: Father Chris Clay, The Race for Education, Military Appreciation Day at Keeneland, Kentucky Oaks Pink Out for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Mary Lee-Butte and the Blue Grass Farms Chaplaincy, Mary Jo Pons and the Radio Reading Network
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Tags: belmont stakes, Breeders' Cup, Daytona 500, Detroit Red Wings, Easy Goer, Florida Derby, Friesan Fire, I Want Revenge, kentucky derby, mine that bird, nascar, NBA Championship, NBC, Pittsburgh Penguins, Preakness Stakes, Rachel Alexandra, santa anita derby, Stanley Cup, sunday silence, super bowl, wood memorial, World Series
May 22nd, 2009 at 6:50 am
I was actually very nervous towards the start of this year’s Derby, and I mean NERVOUS for horse-racing itself. I was praying every horse ran clear long past the wire, knowing our sport could not use another devastating result. When Mine That Bird came from last to first, the guests watching, (not horse racing bleed for it kind of people), stood up, cheered, pointed wildly at the television screen. And when “Girls are just as good as boys” talk fills every radio station Preakness morning, well that sounds like good media for the sport to me. Just little things like that tell us that the sport of kings is taking those small steps to possibly living up to its name once again.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:20 am
Mr. Cummings –
I’m all for optimism, but the foundation on which you apparently have built yours is a joke. Do you actually believe that a spike in viewership of a particular Triple Crown event is some sort of sign of health, let alone increasing popularity of racing in the U.S.? That strikes me as naïve to the extreme.
The trajectory of the U.S. racing industry not only continues to be decidedly downward, but the pace of decline has also clearly accelerated in recent years. I’m not going to bother ticking off a list of serious, and in many cases growing problems, as one would have to be blind not to see them. But I’d like you – or anyone – to demonstrate some correlation between viewership of one of the TC events and the health of the racing industry. To my knowledge, none has ever existed.
It is also bitterly ironic that you should end with the hollow assertion that drug issues and safety concerns are “being taken seriously”, as hand-wringing does little to resolve any problem.
Banning steroids? That was window-dressing offered up to placate Congress. Do you imagine that the industry would have taken such a step without having felt federal pressure? And now that such pressure has largely disappeared, do you really believe that “serious” steps are being taken to eliminate the endemic cheating that horseplayers from coast to coast know – without the benefit of sophisticated tests – continues to this day? If so, I’d like to hear about those bold steps.
If you are currently optimistic about the U.S. racing industry, I can only conclude that you also expect the economy to turn around any second, and that, given the wild success of the “surge”, you are considering Baghdad as your next get-away vacation spot.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
The key is to build upon this and not simply have the TV ratings as entities upon themselves that are isolated from other issues such as safety, drugs and the viability of tracks as numerous states continue to lose the war with the economic tsunami. The NFL had Pete Rozelle and the NBA has David Stern…..Thoroughbred racing needs a young, dynamic commissioner who has the power to put these jigsaw puzzle pieces together.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:32 am
Nice job Brad.
I agree, NBC deserves the credit for really promoting this year’s Derby. They probably looked at the competition and decided there was great opportunity to boost viewership by heavily promoting the event. It was a good call for them and Thoroughbred racing.
Then with a lot of folks watching, Calvin Borel’s wild and crazy personality kicked in and combined with Rachel Alexandra, gave NBC a lot of ammo for the Preakness.
It is a shame Triple Crown Productions could not hold their partnership together to have the third leg with the same network. But, let’s root for ABC to do a great job.
If Rachel doesn’t go, I sure hope Calvin gets to ride the Bird. He is the star of this Triple Crown.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:57 am
TV ratings for major television sporting events are greatly affected by the competition they face on any given day. While I don’t have the ratings of the competition directly at my fingertips and don’t have the time to go digging for them, I would not be surprised if the NBA Playoffs or NHL playoffs may have been less directly competitive as far as timeslots go for that day. In any case, an analysis such as this piece is not complete without a look at that competition on that particular day to prove that the results were anything more than arbitrary or even expected given the lack of sports TV competition.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Just to correct some incorrect data you have here: Game 6 of the NBA Finals drew 16.9 million viewers last year, and Game 5 of the World Series drew 15.8 million.
– Paulsen
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
According to Nielsen ratings for game 5 of the World Series the game generated a “Rating” of 8.4, a “Share” of 14 and a total viewers of 13.365 million. Down 17% from the previous year’s record low ratings. Also according to Nielsen, Game 6 of the NBA finals in 2008 had a “Rating” of 9.3; a “Share” of 17; and a total viewers of 14.941 million. To be fair, the ratings for all the sports are all over the board, depending on who’s web site you look at. Nielsen is the rating service that the networks and cable use to set ad rates. One could assume that they might be somewhat more reliable.
In reviewing the Nielsen ratings I find in notable that baseball droped 17% in one year, off a previous record low for the series. Does this make baseball a dying sport, with drug problems, meaningless suspensions and fines, and stars going being tried for drug related issues?. And horse racing has problems?
I’m not excusing horse racing, but look around you, you think the genetic mutants that play football and basketball, do that drug free? Sure they do, and Santa will be by your chimney for christmas.
Hey, Michael Vick has gone home this weekend. Maybe he Paragallo can run some horses under their kids names!
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:46 pm
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May 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
So much growth is potentially available everywhere. But nobody within racing promotes
the jocks and horses as rock stars. So, what do you get? A bunch of nice horses running
around in a circle without story line. NBC has done a great recently. But, you watch, the Breeders Cup - - which should be the Super Bowl— will have a bunch of nice horses ALL DRESSED IN THE SAME COLORED SADDLE CLOTH SO YOU CANT TELL ANY ONE FROM THE OTHER. Brilliant! There they go, all dressed in ROYAL BLUE! Is that 3 or 8?
Six or 9? 1 or 11? It’s like they do everything they possibly can to make it hard for people
to enjoy and, dare the thought, learn about horseracing. Sad.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Thank you for your help!
June 21st, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Great site and nice article really like what its talking about.