Nielsen’s preliminary data indicates that 47.9 million individuals observed the 27th presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday.
The 90-minute debate, which caused a significant stir in the political arena, was simultaneously broadcast on 22 networks. CNN, which conducted the contest at its Atlanta facilities, provided a live transmission of the broadcast to any network at no cost. However, the network was required to adhere to stringent guidelines regarding its branding and presentation.
CNN’s primary channel, CNN Espanol, and HLN collectively attracted 9.04 million viewers on television. Fox News, a right-wing talk channel, attracted 8.8 million viewers, ABC News attracted 8.7 million viewers, and MSNBC attracted 3.968 million individuals.
Three million of the 8.7 million viewers who viewed the debate on CNN’s main channel were among the coveted advertisers aged 25 to 54.
CNN reported that the event garnered over 30 million views on its digital properties and YouTube. The debate was the largest and tied for our largest live broadcast event across all of CNN’s digital platforms, with 2.3 million simultaneous live views at 9:47 a.m., according to the network.
The network did not disclose viewership figures, but the broadcast also attracted the largest audience on record for CNN Max.
The first debate between Trump and Biden was viewed by over 73 million individuals across all television networks four years ago, a decrease from the record-breaking 84 million viewers who tuned in to the first confrontation between Hillary Clinton and Trump in 2016.
