It’s looking like the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump won’t hit the 100 million viewer mark, as had been predicted. In fact, it may barely pass the 80.6 million that watched the Oct. 28, 1980 debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Here’s how it’s shaping up:
Debate (9 p.m. – 10:45 p.m.) | Total Viewers / A25-54 demo
NBC – 18,156,000 / 8,323,000
ABC – 13,521,000 / 4,802,000
CBS – 12,082,000 / 4,750,000
FNC – 11,359,000 / 3,525,000
CNN – 9,805,000 / 4,435,000
FOX – 5,573,000 / 2,709,000
MSNBC – 4,895,000 / 1,576,000
PBS – 2,960,000 / 1,030,000
UNI – 2,500,000 / 1,300,000
Telemundo – 1,773,000 / NA
FBN – 672,610 / 141,745
CNBC – 520,492 / 229,765
That’s 56,565,000 on 7 broadcast networks, 26,059,000 on the big three news channels and 1,193,102 on two business channels, for a total of 83,817,102. We’ll get final numbers from Nielsen on Monday evening which could send the average higher. The debate aired on 13 TV networks that are publicly rated by Nielsen, and two that are no (C-SPAN and Fusion) as well as several streaming services.
Post-debate cable (10:45 p.m. – 1 a.m.) | Total Viewers / A25-54 demo
CNN – 5,149,000 / 2,167,000
FNC – 4,617,000 / 1,464,000
MSNBC – 3,251,000 / 1,066,000
FBN – 260,497 / 64,909
CNBC – 128,754 / 48,978
Prime time cable (8 p.m. – 11 p.m.) | Total Viewers / A25-54 demo
FNC – 9,041,000 / 2,704,000
CNN – 7,649,000 / 3,392,000
MSNBC – 3,947,000 / 1,241,000
FBN – 532,025 / 111,165
CNBC – 406,504 / 172,770