With Donald Trump back in the mix, and the smallest field of candidates yet, the raucous, fiery GOP debate was watched by 16.9 million viewers last night, making it the most-watched of 2016, and the fourth most-watched of this cycle.
The 11th GOP debate of the 2016 campaign, held in Detroit, averaged 5.5 million in the A25-54 demo.
This was the third GOP debate this cycle for Fox News and was the most-watched program on all of TV last night.
With 24 million viewers, FNC had the most-watched primary debate ever in August. But the network took a hit in January with its second debate when Donald Trump bowed out.
By this time in the 2012 cycle, the GOP debates–20 in total–had all taken place. The most-watched debate that time around drew 7.6 million viewers.
The next GOP debate is next Thursday on CNN.
Here’s the 2016 debate ranker, which includes Nielsen viewership data, along with livestreaming information provided by the networks.
| Debate | Network | Total Viewers | A25-54 | Streams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug. 6 | GOP | Fox News | 24,000,000 | 7,900,000 | 2,400000** |
| Sept. 16 | GOP | CNN | 22,940,000 | 6,900,000 | 4,500,000 |
| Oct. 13 | Dem | CNN | 15,791,000 | 4,998,000 | 4,300,000 |
| Oct. 28 | GOP | CNBC | 14,000,000 | 3,900,000 | *** |
| Nov. 10 | GOP | FBN | 13,500,000 | 3,670,000 | 2,800,000 |
| Nov. 14 | Dem | CBS | 8,500,000 | 2,120,000 | 1,200,000 |
| Dec. 15 | GOP | CNN | 18,165,000 | 5,560,000 | 3,100,000 |
| Dec. 19 | Dem | ABC | 7,850,000 | 1,928,000 | *** |
| Jan. 14 | GOP | FBN | 11,094,000 | 2,983,000 | 1,900,000 |
| Jan. 17 | Dem | NBC | 10,200,000 | 3,170,000 | 1,200,000 |
| Jan. 28 | GOP | Fox News | 12,466,000 | 3,467,000 | 1,350,000 |
| Feb. 4 | Dem | MSNBC | 4,489,000 | 1,211,000 | *** |
| Feb. 6 | GOP | ABC | 13,181,000 | 3,384,000 | 1,300,000 |
| Feb. 11 | Dem | PBS (with CNN simulcast) | 8,030,000 | 2,300,000 | TBD |
| Feb. 13 | GOP | CBS | 13,510,000 | 3,520,000 | TBD |
| Feb. 25 | GOP | CNN/Telemundo | 14,521,000 | 4,684,000 | 2,100,000 |
| Mar. 3 | GOP | Fox News | 16,852,000 | 5,462,000 | 1,490,000 |
| Mar. 6 | Dem | CNN | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Mar. 9 | Dem | Univision | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Mar. 10 | GOP | CNN | TBD | TBD | TBD |
**Users needed to be an authenticated viewer to watch the livestream.
***Livestream data has not been revealed.