Ratings Roundup: 2021 NFL Draft Becomes Third Most-Watched Ever; 147th Kentucky Derby Grabs 14.5 Million Average Viewers, 54% Increase By SVG Staff
Friday, May 7, 2021 - 1:45 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
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, the 2021 NFL Draft become the third most-watched Draft ever, the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby averaged 14.5 million viewers, and more.
2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft in Cleveland was seen by an average audience of 6.1 million viewers (TV Digital) across ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, and digital channels for the three-day event, making it the third most-watched Draft ever.
With 6.1 million viewers, 2021 is basically flat compared to 2019 (6.2 million), which is the second most-watched draft behind 2020 (8.3 million).
This year, the city of Cleveland averaged a 10.9 HH rating for the NFL Draft, which is the highest-rated local market for 2021 and the highest host city Draft rating on record since different cities began hosting the event in 2015.
Digitally, the 2021 NFL Draft delivered an AMA of 261K across NFL O&O, ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ABC platforms - up 36% vs. 2019 (192K).
All seven rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft were presented across ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network - the third straight year The Walt Disney Company worked with the National Football League to offer a multi-network presentation of the Draft for all seven rounds.
The second annual virtual Draft-a-Thon live fundraiser had an average daily reach of 5 million devices and 17 million total views across NFL O&O, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Yahoo, Reddit, Twitch and AVOD platforms.
ESPN's livestream coverage of the Draft went out to five platforms: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, the ESPN App, and - for the first time ever - TikTok. Those streams tallied 8.9M total views and 57.7M minutes of watch time (live). The views were up 41% from the 2019 similar presentation. (NFL)
During Round 1, an average audience of 12.6 million viewers (TV Digital) watched the drama unfold - up 11% vs. Round 1 of the 2019 NFL Draft (11.4 million). With 12.6 million viewers, 2021 ranked as the second-highest Day 1 on record, surpassing 2014 (12.4 million) and behind only 2020 (15.5 million). Digitally, Round 1 coverage delivered an AMA of 598K across NFL O&O, ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ABC platforms - up 54% vs. 2019 (389K). (NFL)
Last Thursday's turnout topped ABC's Academy Awards showcase by 2.1 million viewers. As for the networks, the first night was won by ESPN, which averaged 6.48 million viewers, while ABC drew 4.19 million, and NFL Network with 1.85 million. (Sportico)
Kentucky Derby NBC Sports' presentation of the 147th Kentucky Derby averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 14.5 million viewers as the Run for the Roses returned to its traditional first Saturday in May date - marking a 54% increase from last year's event (9.4 million on Sept. 5), according to official national data provided by Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.
Viewership peaked at 15.7 million viewers from 6:45-7 p.m. ET on NBC as Medina Spirit mounted a wire-to-wire victory and trainer Bob Baffert won the event for a record seventh time.
The TV-only average audience of 14.4 million viewers topped all entertainment awards shows for the first time ever and marked NBC's most watched broadcast since the NFL Divisional Playoffs in January.
NBC Sports Digital's presentation of the Kentucky Derby delivered a record Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 139,300 viewers for the event via the NBC Sports app and NBCSports.com.
The NBC-TV household rating for the broadcast (6:31-7:18 p.m. ET) was a 7.1/22. (NBC Sports)
NASCAR on Fox Fox Sports' coverage of the GEICO 500 from Talladega Superspeedway on April 25 delivered 4,701,000 viewers, which was up 4% from 2019, an audience peak of 6,265,000 viewers, the most watched sporting event of the weekend. (Twitter)
This past weekend with action taking place at Kansas Speedway, 2,739,000 viewers watched the race on FS1, which was up 26% from 2019, making it the most-watched FS1 telecast since Game 6 of the 2020 NLCS. Viewership also peaked at 3,455,000 viewers and and was the third consecutive weekend of a viewership increase. (Twitter)
IndyCar With a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.225 million viewers on NBC, Sunday's Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is now NBC Sports' most-watched non-Indy 500 afternoon INDYCAR race ever, the second-most watched overall race behind only last year's primetime coverage of the Genesys 300 in Texas (1.256 million viewers), and the best Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in five years (ABC, 2016, 1.391 million TV-only viewers).
Sunday's race was up 81% compared to last year's running of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on NBC (10/25/20; 676,000 viewers), which was the finale of the 2020 season due to the pandemic, and up 37% vs. NBC's 2020 INDYCAR race average (891,000 viewers), excluding the Indy 500. (NBC Sports)
As the NTT INDYCAR SERIES heads into the month of May, its first four races of the 2021 season have set viewership milestones. With two races on NBC and two on NBCSN, the series is averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 719,000 viewers, making it the best spring start to a season in four years (799,000 viewers; ABC/NBCSN; 2017); the best spring start in NBC Sports history; and up 6% vs. the first four races in 2019, excluding the Indy 500. Comparisons exclude the 2020 season, which began in June due to the global pandemic.
Additional viewership highlights include:
The two April races on NBC (Barber and St. Petersburg) averaged a TAD of 1.066 million viewers, up 16% vs. 2019, the last time the season began in the spring
More from Sports Video Group
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
28/05/2026
The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, and the cheer of the crowd: those are three prime examples of the glorious sounds fans hear on televised baseball ga...
28/05/2026
Every year, March Madness captivates the entire sports world. Nonstop action, un...
28/05/2026
NBA on NBC was an integral part to live sports production in the 1990s, and, when the league made these media rights available, NBC Sports saw an opportunity to...
28/05/2026
UmpCam is a technological wrinkle that has given fans unprecedented views of wha...
28/05/2026
T-Mobile and the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced a multi-year partnership, making T-Mobile the Official 5G Network Partner of the U.S. Women'...
27/05/2026
Telestream has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Benjamin Desbois as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Desbois, currently Teles...
27/05/2026
ESPN garnered 10 awards; NBC's Sunday Night Football received the Outstandin...
27/05/2026
Matrox Video is celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of operations from its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1976, the company has...
27/05/2026
Major League Baseball has announced a series of initiatives tied to America's Semiquincentennial, including a national marketing campaign, Fourth of July br...
27/05/2026
Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced that Brian Gross has joined the company as an Account Manager on its Audio team, based in the Burbank office. He will...
27/05/2026
Nielsen has released new research on soccer fandom ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2...
27/05/2026
ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has unveiled a new partnership with TikTok to bring broad...
27/05/2026
FIFA's Oscar Sanchez gives a deeper look to how this tournament will be cove...
27/05/2026
The soon-to-be senior from Charlottesville is building her skills in replay, TD, and even creative content for HokieVision and its ACC Network productions
In t...
27/05/2026
FOX Sports' Mike Davies breaks down the vision for this summer's showcas...
27/05/2026
HBS's Paul King, FIFA's Oscar Sanchez preview how the masses at home wil...
27/05/2026
FOX's MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards...
27/05/2026
One of the most memorable Postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
Ratings Roundup: 2021 NFL Draft Becomes Third Most-Watched Ever; 147th Kentucky Derby Grabs 14.5 Million Average Viewers, 54% Increase By SVG Staff 
