Preakness Stakes TV ratings fall short of Kentucky Derby setup

After the Kentucky Derby produced the second-best overnight rating in the past quarter of a century, the Preakness Stakes failed to continue the success.

The second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, turned up the lowest overnight rating for a Triple Crown race on NBC ever last Saturday. The 4.9 Preakness Stakes TV ratings represented a 21 percent drop from last year’s race according to Sports Media Watch.

Since NBC became the broadcast partner for the Triple Crown in 2001, this year’s Preakness now ranks as the fourth-least watched event in that category. Traditionally, the Belmont Stakes receive the smallest television audiences, and the bottom three NBC broadcasts are all Belmont races from different years. This year’s Preakness challenged that category, however, as the next-worst rating is the 2011 Belmont with a 4.8 rating.

While factors such as the lack of media hype around the Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and a general decline in television audiences as a whole probably played a part in the small audience for the Preakness, it’s hard for NBC to argue that there was heavy competition for the Preakness as far as television programming went. The Preakness broadcast still easily won the night as far as sports programming went. Game 3 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals was the next-best competition on the night, and the Preakness outperformed that broadcast.

This information and the fact that Always Dreaming failed to capture the second leg of the Triple Crown bodes ill for Belmont television prospects. If these trends continue, a change in NBC’s programming might be in order eventually.

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The Kentucky Derby will probably always be worth a slot on broadcast because of the event’s notoriety and fanfare. Unless there is a strong Triple Crown contender, however, NBC may consider moving the Preakness and the Belmont to the NBC Sports Network.

Horse racing broadcasts are inherently somewhat tied to niche audiences. If the sub-five overnight ratings continue, having these races on broadcast television may no longer make sense for NBC.