Ratings Roundup: Largest Live U.S Audience Watches Inaugural Miami Grand Prix; 16 Million Viewers Witness Rich Strike's Upset Win at 2022 Kentucky Derby By SVG Staff Friday, May 13, 2022 - 7:30 am
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Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix attracts 2.6 million viewers on ABC, the 2022 Kentucky Derby on NBC garners 16 million viewers, the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and NBA Playoffs roll on, and more.
Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix on ABC Attracts Record 2.6 Million Viewers; Largest Live F1 U.S. TV Audience Ever ABC's live telecast of Sunday's inaugural Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix attracted a record average viewership of 2.6 million, the largest audience for a live F1 telecast ever on U.S. television.
The race telecast, which aired from 3:30 p.m. until 5:36 p.m. ET from the Miami International Autodrome, peaked at 2.9 million average viewers in the 4:45-5 p.m. quarter-hour as defending World Champion Max Verstappen steered his way to victory. The race averaged 735,000 viewers in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic.
The top 10 local market ratings for the race telecast were:
Miami: 3.7
West Palm Beach: 2.4
Atlanta: 1.8
Los Angeles: 1.6
San Francisco: 1.6
Hartford: 1.5
Philadelphia: 1.5
Milwaukee: 1.5
Charlotte: 1.5
Cincinnati: 1.4
ABC's full telecast, which included the 90-minute Grand Prix Sunday pre-race show that aired from 2 p.m. until the race started at 3:30 p.m., averaged 2.1 million viewers.
Through five races, the 2022 F1 season is averaging 1.4 million viewers per race, up 49% over the 2021 season average (949,000 viewers) and up 131% over the 2020 season average (609,000 viewers). This year's seasonal average of 1.4 million viewers is 53% larger than average of 922,000 for the first five races of the 2021 season. The 2021 season was the most-viewed F1 season ever on U.S. television.
With interest in the inaugural Miami event high, an audience of 953,000 viewers tuned in on Saturday to watch F1 qualifying, which aired at 4 p.m. on ESPN. And an audience of 398,000 watched Friday's Practice 1, which aired at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Both represent the largest viewership for a qualifying or practice session since F1 returned to ESPN in 2018.
The most-viewed Formula 1 race telecast in U.S. television history was ABC's same-day delayed presentation of the 2002 Monaco Grand Prix, which followed the Indianapolis 500 telecast and averaged 2.784 million viewers. The previous record audience for a live race telecast was 1.744 million for the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix, which aired on ESPN.
2022 Kentucky Derby Averages 16 Million Viewers on NBC Topping 15 Million Mark for Eight Consecutive Year NBC Sports' presentation of the 148th Kentucky Derby, a thriller won by 80-1 longshot Rich Strike, averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 16.0 million viewers - marking the eighth consecutive year that the event topped the 15-million mark, excluding pandemic-impacted events. In addition, NBC Sports delivered impressive audiences for the debut of its MLB Sunday Leadoff package and Sunday's USFL game.
Additional viewership highlights from weekend NBC Sports coverage:
With 16.0 million viewers, the 2022 Kentucky Derby is the most watched Run for the Roses since 2019 and marks an 8% increase from last year's event (14.9 million on Sept. 5).
Viewership peaked at 19.0 million viewers from 7-7:15 p.m. ET on NBC, shortly after Rich Strike mounted his astounding closing charge to cross the finish line as the winner - marking the largest Kentucky Derby peak audience since 2017, ahead of the 18.5 million for the controversial 2019 disqualification of Maximum Security.
The TV-only average audience of 15.8 million viewers is NBC's most-watched program since Super Bowl Sunday.
Led by Peacock, which live streamed the Kentucky Derby for the first time, the event posted a record Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 247,300 viewers across NBCUniversal streaming platforms.
The overhead replay of the race with Larry Collmus' call has been viewed more than 36 million times across NBC Sports' flagship Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok handles and the NBC Sports YouTube channel - the most-viewed Kentucky Derby video ever on NBC Sports' social media platforms and six times the consumption of Justify's Triple Crown-winning run in the 2018 Belmont Stakes (six million views). In addition, the video is the most-viewed moment ever for NBC Sports' TikTok account (11.6 million views).
The NBC-TV household rating for the broadcast (6:31-7:21 p.m. ET) was a 7.7/24.
The debut of MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock and NBC averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 1.34 million viewers, marking the most-watched regular-season Sunday day game since 2019 (Yankees-Red Sox in London, ESPN, 6/30/19).
Top Metered Markets for the 2022 Kentucky Derby
Louisville: 28.5/63
Ft. Myers: 18.7/41
Cincinnati: 16.2/45
West Palm Beach 14.3/36
Buffalo: 11.5/29
Baltimore: 11.5/33
Knoxville: 11.2/26
Pittsburgh: 10.9/28
Providence: 10.7/27
Hartford: 10.7/28
2022 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on TNT, ESPN Turner Sports' live Stanley Cup Playoff games televised on TNT and TBS are up 46% through May 8, compared to similar cable-televised windows in 2021, and up 48% vs. 2019. Female viewership for playoff games airing on TNT and TBS continues to see substantial increases, up 71% when compared to televised games to date last year, and up 73% from 2019. Saturday's triple-header of Game 3s (Colorado Avalanche vs. Nashville Predators; New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins; Calgary Flames vs. Dallas Stars) averaged 917,000 viewers on TNT. The Penguins vs. Rangers game averaged 1.3 mi
