Golden Tempo wasn’t the only winner at the 2026 Kentucky Derby. NBC Sports scored another major victory in the live-sports wars after Saturday’s race delivered the most-watched “Run for the Roses” on record, averaging 19.6 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. The race peaked at 24.4 million viewers, and the telecast was up 11% from last year’s Derby audience.
With an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 1.3 million viewers, NBC’s streaming audience also hit a new high for the event. The first leg of the American Triple Crown saw a 36% increase in its streaming audience from last year and nearly doubled that of 2024. The company says official metrics will be available on Tuesday, May 5. If the numbers hold, the network says this year’s Derby is NBC’s most-watched Saturday program since the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Peacock Keeps Delivering Sports’ Biggest Moments
The Kentucky Derby joins a growing list of live sports that have seen major success on NBC and Peacock in 2026. Earlier this year, the network’s “Legendary February” pulled in 200.1 million viewers across the Super Bowl, the Milan-Cortina Olympics, and Sunday Night Basketball, while Peacock streamed 6.3 billion minutes of Olympic content.
NBC’s mix of broadcast TV and streaming helped push the network to No. 1 in primetime on 23 of 25 Sundays between September 7, 2025, and February 22, 2026. During that stretch, NBC’s primetime Sundays averaged 21.6 million viewers, more than double the combined average for ABC, CBS, and Fox.
Earlier this spring, the 2026 Opening Day doubleheader on NBC and Peacock delivered the largest MLB Opening Day audience on record for a multi-game presentation. NBC’s recent success shows that Peacock is not just a library service or a place for reruns. The streamer is becoming a destination for appointment viewing when live sports are at their biggest and most valuable.
But the Pressure Is Still There
Even with these wins, NBCUniversal is still fighting real financial and rights-market pressure. Peacock lost $432 million in the first quarter of 2026, but saw a 2 million increase in subscribers compared to the final quarter of 2025. At the same time, NBC reportedly gave up the 2026 Big Ten title game in a $45 million to $55 million buyback deal with Fox. With the next NFL rights fight just around the corner, NBC’s control of Sunday Night Football is reportedly under even more streaming pressure from tech giants like Netflix and Amazon.
With the record-setting success of the Derby, NBC Sports is proving it can still deliver monster audiences on broadcast while using Peacock to strengthen the streaming side of the business. In a market where rights are getting more expensive and competition is getting louder, that combination is more important than ever. By attracting big audiences with marquee events like the Olympics, the NBA, Sunday-night dominance, and now a record Derby, NBC’s big-event strategy is paying off in streaming and broadcast TV. NBC Sports will look to continue this momentum with the 151st Preakness Stakes live on NBC and Peacock on May 16
