American Pharoah boosts Breeders’ Cup TV ratings

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s last race drew the highest television rating in two decades for the Breeders’ Cup telecast.

Saturday’s coverage on NBC averaged a 2.6 rating and 6 share. The network said Tuesday that’s the best since 1995 for Cigar’s 12th consecutive victory.

For the 15-minute window that included the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the broadcast averaged 4.6 million viewers. That’s up 39 percent from the 3.3 million last year.

Ratings represent the percentage of homes with televisions tuned to a program, while shares measure the percentage of TVs in use at the time.