Nevertheless, the overall viewers determine fell effectively in need of the document 84 million that watched a 2016 conflict between Trump and then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
ABC, which hosted Tuesday night time’s debate from Philadelphia, hauled in a whopping 18 million viewers, together with greater than 6 million within the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, in line with preliminary figures from Nielsen.
NBC’s simulcast of the talk got here in second, raking in 9.7 million viewers, whereas Fox Information took the highest spot amongst cable information channels, hauling in 8.6 million, greater than double CNN’s viewers.
A variety of different networks, together with CBS, Fox Enterprise and NewsNation, additionally simulcast the talk.
The Nielsen figures don’t symbolize the tens of tens of millions of People who watched the talk on-line through streaming on YouTube, Roku or different related TV gadgets, or those that noticed clips of the occasion’s high moments on social media.
The talk got here throughout a essential time for ABC, owned by Disney, which like all main media conglomerates is grappling with dwindling promoting income for linear tv property and widespread cord-cutting by shoppers in favor of streaming platforms.
The Hill’s Dominick Mastrangelo has more here.