With every major broadcast and cable news operation carrying exhaustive coverage of last night’s presidential debate, there was no shortage of places you could turn for reaction to the final face-off between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. And that included coverage produced exclusively by Trump for Trump supporters.
“If you’re tired of biased, mainstream media reporting (otherwise known as Crooked Hillary’s super PAC), tune into my Facebook Live broadcast,” Trump said in a Facebook post, urging supporters to watch streaming coverage that many immediately called a preview of “Trump TV.”
BuzzFeed described the production quality as “more like public access than a glitzy cable news offering”:
The livestream featured punditry from retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn and former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and in place of commercials, the feed was interspersed with pro-Trump ads and a special message from Ivanka Trump. Looking more like public access than a glitzy cable news offering, the broadcast moved slowly between guests with at least one or two hot-mic off moments where the hosts discussed where the next segment was headed. There were also hints of some surprise programming after the debate ends.
And people were watching, with 200,000 viewers tuned in at its highest point, trailing only ABC News on Facebook.