Presidential Debate Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen will release ratings for each of the four events as they are available.

Presidential debate nielsen ratings. New york ny sept. Preliminary ratings indicated the debate did not draw as many viewers as the first presidential debate in september 2016 but the final number which includes 16 networks drew 73 1 million according to nielsen media research. The big ratings winner in this year s debate however was fox news channel. Tim kaine which drew some 37 million pairs of eyes.

Fox news had the largest audience share attracting 17 8 million viewers followed by abc 12 6 million nbc 9 7 million cnn 8 3 million msnbc 7 2 million. For the first time ever we ve compiled historical ratings for every presidential and vice presidential debate in the interactive charts below enabling you to spot trends and trend breaking events. More than 73 million people watched tuesday night s presidential debate according to nielsen ratings a large audience that still represented a 13 drop from the record breaking first debate of. Per nielsen finals tuesday night s first presidential debate of 2020 amassed 34 1 million total viewers across abc which accounted for the largest broadcast crowd with 12 6 mil nbc 9 7 mil.

An estimated 57 9 television viewers watched the lone 2020 vice presidential debate easily outpacing the 2016 matchup between pence and sen. 30 2020 an estimated 73 1 million people tuned in to watch the first debate of the 2020 presidential election on tuesday sept. The vice presidential debate between mike pence and kamala harris was a much bigger audience draw than the vp debate in 2016 according to nielsen ratings.