This day in 2012 saw the last GOP debate of that presidential cycle. The 20th and final match on Feb. 22, 2012 drew 4.7 million viewers on CNN as John King moderated the debate featuring Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
So far, the nine GOP debates of the 2016 cycle have averaged more than three times that: 15.875 million. That’s more than TV’s biggest comedy, Big Bang Theory, does on a typical Thursday. CNN, which has carried two of the GOP debates, and has a third this Thursday, has the highest average with 20.556 million. Fox News, also with two GOP debates, and a third airing March 3, has averaged 18.233 million. The second debate, which didn’t include front-runner Donald Trump drew about half the viewers of the first.
Moderated by Wolf Blitzer Thursday’s debate in Houston will include Telemundo as a co-sponsor and have the smallest number of candidates yet, just five: Trump, Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Gov. John Kasich and Dr. Ben Carson. Telemundo anchor María Celeste Arrarás will also question the candidates in the only RNC-sanctioned Republican debate broadcast by a Spanish-language network.
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 | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Mar. 3 | GOP | Fox News | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 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.