UPDATE: (5:10 p.m. ET)
Nielsen has released viewership data for 4 additional Nielsen-measured networks, bringing the total to 10. Nielsen now reports that an average of 13.79 million total TV viewers watched day 1 of the open impeachment hearing across the 10 Nielsen-measured networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, PBS, CNN, CNN en Español, Fox News, MSNBC and HLN (which aired the hearing on tape delay).
Nielsen is going with 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. ET as the average time period, despite the fact that coverage started and ended at different times on different networks. Plus, HLN didn’t even air the hearing in real-time.
Only 541,000 of the 13.79 million total TV viewers were A18-34. That may come across as relatively minuscule relative to the total (~4%). However, it’s far more likely that this demo streamed the debate, as opposed to watching it on TV.
On the other side – 10.64 million out of the 13.79 million total TV viewers were 55+; or roughly 77% of the total.
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Original post: (2:06 p.m. ET)
Day 1 coverage of the public impeachment hearings attracted an average of 13.1 million total TV viewers across 6 Nielsen-measured TV networks.
This is according to early live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
Fox News averaged the largest total audience of the six Nielsen-rated networks that carried the day 1 proceedings, with 2.9 million. MSNBC came in second in total viewers, averaging 2.7 million. NBC averaged the fewest total viewers for its day 1 coverage, bringing in 1.68 million from 10 a.m. – 3:58 p.m. ET.
Among adults 25-54, traditionally the key news demo for advertisers, it was ABC News that finished at the top of the heap. ABC averaged 496,000 adults 25-54, +54,000 more than second place finisher Fox News.
ABC likely received an extra boost from its Kelly & Ryan lead-in. Kelly & Ryan traditionally beat their NBC and CBS competition in the 9 a.m. hour.
FNC finished in second place among adults 25-54 (and No. 1 out of the cable newsers), edging NBC by just +2,000 (442,000 vs. 440,000 A25-54). Following NBC was CNN, then CBS and MSNBC.
Wednesday, Nov. 13
| Impeachment Hearing Day 1 Coverage | |||
| Network | Total Viewers (000) | A25-54 Viewers (000) | Time Period (ET) |
| Fox News | 2,885,000 | 442,000 | 10 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. |
| MSNBC | 2,703,000 | 365,000 | 10 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. |
| ABC | 2,008,000 | 496,000 | 9:50 a.m.-3:59 p.m. |
| CBS | 1,970,000 | 384,000 | 9:55 a.m.-4:30 p.m. |
| CNN | 1,856,000 | 428,000 | 10 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. |
| NBC | 1,676,000 | 440,000 | 10 a.m.- 3:58 p.m. |
*Neither CNNI nor C-Span are included because they are not Nielsen-rated.
*This does not include streaming audience numbers.