11 million viewers tuned in for last night’s GOP debate on Fox Business Network, the smallest of all the GOP debates so far, but enough to make it FBN’s second most-watched show ever, and the most-watched show on all of cable last night. FBN drew 2.98 million A25-54 viewers for the debate.
The earlier debate featuring lower-tier candidates drew 2 million viewers and 289,000 in the A25-54 demo.
FBN was unbundled last night, allowing those households that don’t normally get the network, the ability to watch the debate.
This is the first GOP debate of 2016 and the seventh this cycle. By this time in the 2012 cycle, there had been 15 GOP debates. Considering the whopper ratings, the networks could only have wished the RNC would be so generous this year.
Next up, a Democratic debate Sunday on NBC.
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 | 2,580,000 |
| 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 | TBD |
| Jan. 14 | GOP | FBN | 11,094,000 | 2,983,000 | TBD |
| Jan. 17 | Dem | NBC | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Jan. 28 | GOP | Fox News | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Feb. 6 | GOP | ABC | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Feb. 11 | Dem | PBS | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Feb. 13 | GOP | CBS | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Feb. 25 | GOP | TBD (previously NBC) | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Mar. 9 | Dem | Univision | TBD | TBD | TBD |
**Users needed to be an authenticated viewer to watch the livestream.
***CNBC is not sharing their livestream data.