ABC was the top-rated network last night during the presidential debate, making it the #1 network for both presidential debates and Thursday’s VP debate.
ABC and FOX were the only networks to gain viewers from last week’s highly-rated Vice Presidential debate, which was tied for the 2nd highest rated debate of all time.
In post-debate analysis, ABC averaged 9.92 million Total Viewers, NBC 8.35 and CBS 7.95. The cablers post-debate analysis came in behind CBS, with FNC, CNN and MSNBC placing 4th-6th.
The overall viewership across all networks has yet to be released, but is expected to be less than Thursday’s VP debate.
> Update: The total viewership for last night’s debate was 63.2 million, which was more than the first debate but less than last week’s VP debate. It finished just outside the top 10 most-watched debates of all time.
| Network | Total Viewers |
|---|---|
| ABC | 13,200,000 |
| NBC | 10,860,000 |
| CBS | 9,440,000 |
| CNN | 9,228,000 |
| FNC | 8,770,000 |
| FOX | 5,300,000 |
| MSNBC | 3,768,000 |