According to their report, the buzz surrounding the Kentucky Derby exceeds both the Preakness and the Belmont. While the measurements compare 2010 to 2009, the indicate the Derby is the early leader in 2011:

Comparing U.S. buzz about the Triple Crown races, Nielsen found that the Kentucky Derby had the most buzz in 2009 and 2010, and is off to an early lead in 2011. Close behind the Derby’s buzz is the Belmont Stakes, which despite being the final race in the series makes up significantly more buzz than the Preakness Stakes.

The high buzz rating for the Kentucky Derby also translates to an increased viewership in regards to its televised broadcast. Nielsen indicates the race drew 16.5 million viewers in 2010. Unfortunately, the Derby’s potential popularity for 2011 took a hit when it was announced suspected favorite Uncle Mo was scratched from the race:

Lead image courtesy.

At the time of writing, Google and Yahoo aren’t offering anything similar, which could give Bing a nice edge.  Even if people don’t make a permanent change, they may switch search engines for a day knowing that they’ll get more relevant results.

As for what, exactly, Bing’s doing to mark the Derby, a post on the Bing Search Blog explained this week, "If you are looking for the Kentucky Derby details Bing provides an instant answer that will give you the information to the event as well as some useful links to the race contenders, tickets, and fashion."

The post also suggested, "Make sure to check back after the race for the instant answers with all the race results as well."

It should be interesting to see if what’ve been described as the greatest two minutes in sports do Bing any good.

The deal would give Churchill Downs over $700 million worth of the $1.4 billion online horse wagering market. Churchill Downs already owns online horse betting site TwinSpires.com.

The deal will give Youbet shareholders 97 cents a share in cash for each Youbet.com share, plus 0.0598 shares of Churchill Downs stock. Based on the closing price of Churchill stock on Tuesday, the transaction represents a per-share value of Youbet stock of about $2.84. Once the deal closes, Youbet shareholders will own 16 percent of Churchill stock.

Churchill says less than 14 percent of all wagering on U.S. Thoroughbred racing is estimated to be placed online, but it anticipates that percentage will continue to grow.

"We believe this combination should enable us to accelerate the development of new technology-enabled features and services that horse racing customers who wager via the Advanced Deposit Wagering channel want, and that can attract new customers to racing, said Robert L. Evans, Churchill President and Chief Executive Officer.

"While we expect to make many exciting improvements for customers, our existing TwinSpires.com customers will be able to continue to access their accounts and make wagers, deposits and withdrawals in the same manner they do today."

Churchill said the deal will result in annual saving of $10 million. The transaction is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2010.

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The Derby has a section of its official site called Derby Connect that offers a suite of online tools to "keep you in the action every step of the way." These include a YouTube channel, a Facebook Page, the Derby Universe on Netvibes, and Derby widgets. The widgets are still being worked on according to the site though. They better hurry up if they want them ready for this year.

The Derby has over 30,000 fans on Facebook. The page features regular updates on individual horses and odds, a nice collection of photos, and plenty of fan discussion.

The Kentucky Derby YouTube Channel, which has actually been in existence since 2006 features 56 videos for those who can’t get enough of the Derby. One particular video shows you how to make your Mint Julep, a traditional Kentucky Derby drink.

Of course, the Derby has its own Twitter account as well. Follow username @derbyoaks for the official twitter feed for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, straight from Churchill Downs. The feed currently has over 1,400 followers, and is being updated regularly.

There is plenty more Kentucky Derby media in the form of news, photos, videos, etc. on the Derby’s site itself. There is also a means of betting online via Chruchill Downs Incorporated’s account wagering service Twinspires.

Now they’re going the Denis Leary route with a new ad to premiere (in television form at least) during another huge sporting event – the Kentucky Derby (via Entertainment Weekly). Leary is the star of the show Rescue Me, which also appears on Hulu (and one of my personal favorite shows on TV I might add. I might also add that I normally watch the show on Hulu incidentally).

In the ad, in his patented societal mocking style that he has perfected since the early nineties (at least) with the spots he used to do for MTV, he talks about how TV is rotting our brains, and how Hulu videos can be shared on our "bliggety blogs, facey-spaces, and tweety pages." It’s pretty classic Leary.

Hulu is gaining a lot of ground in the online video world. While it does not yet come close to YouTube in terms of number of video streams or unique viewers, it has become the third most popular video site. Ads like this one during major sporting events will certainly not hurt Hulu’s cause either.

Another thing that won’t hurt Hulu’s cause is a deal with Disney/ABC which was just made official this week. Now on top of Fox and NBC content, Hulu will have hit ABC shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, etc. There’s no telling what more can come from this partnership in the future as well.

The Kentucky Derby and blogging seem to have a couple of things in common, and a few differences that merit further explanation. At the MoreThanDerby website, the writers helpfully point out, “The Kentucky Derby is the ideal sporting event for bloggers. Instead of going on and on for hours, the race lasts approximately 2 minutes, thus matching the attention span of most bloggers.”

They advise bloggers who may be traveling to Churchill Downs on Saturday that though they may blog in pajamas at home, “people still dress up for the Derby.”

For the bloggers who are staying at home, MoreThanDerby provided a useful list of tips for the viewer:

Many race fans prefer to take in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby in person, and spend Derby Day at parties where they can watch the Run for the Roses on TV while enjoying a beverage or two. But check out the websites for the Derby or the Oaks first. Especially if you’re a blogger.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.