Nielsen

An average of 19.6 million viewers on NBC and Peacock made NBC Sports broadcast the most-watched GI Kentucky Derby on record, according to a Sunday release from the network. The broadcast topped by 11% last year's Derby audience (17.7 million viewers), which was the event's largest in 36 years (18.5 million viewers in 1989), according to preliminary data from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Viewership peaked at 24.4 million viewers from 7-7:15 p.m. ET, as jockey Jose Ortiz guided Golden Tempo around the final turn to win by...