Last night’s CNN Tea Party debate drew 3.6 million total viewers, including 1.1 million adults 25-54 last night from 8-10 PM ET. Those numbers put the network at the top of the heap of cable news in primetime, above Fox News and MSNBC which placed a fairly distant second and third, respectively.
As our debate ratings grid below shows however, the ratings for CNN’s debate were down compared to MSNBC’s GOP debate last week, which drew nearly two million more viewers and more than 600,000 demo viewers. It was however up compared to CNN’s last debate in June.
Of course, CNN’s Monday night debate had to contend with ratings powerhouse “Monday Night Football” on ESPN, as well as the U.S. Open Men’s Championship on CBS. Meanwhile, MSNBC’s debate received an unexpected publicity push courtesy of the White House, which scheduled an address from President Obama that night, only to see it shifted to the following day.
The GOP Debate ratings so far:
| Debate | Network | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 12 | CNN | 3,600,000 | 1,100,000 |
| Sept. 7 | MSNBC | 5,411,000 | 1,728,000 |
| Aug. 11 | Fox News | 5,053,000 | 1,430,000 |
| June 13 | CNN | 3,162,000 | 918,000 |
| May 5 | Fox News | 3,258,000 | 854,000 |