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The early results are in, and CNN appeared to be the biggest winner from Thursday’s train wreck of a presidential debate. According to the news cabler’s report of Nielsen Fast National data, a combined 47.9 million total viewers watched the CNN Presidential Debate on TV. And in the key news demo of adults 25-54, an average of 12.6 million viewers watched.
That’s down from the first debate of 2020, which attacted nearly 73.1 million viewers, but there are several caveats attached. Thursday night’s debate was specifically run by CNN. Also, this was among the earliest presidential debates ever; the first 2020 debate was held at the end of September. And this is the first presidential debate since 1988 not handled by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
CNN also noted that there were more than 30 million “live starts” of the debate on YouTube and CNN digital platforms. According to CNN, it was also the biggest day ever for its new CNN on Max service, “nearly doubling the previous record.”
More bullet points from CNN include the debate making CNN’s neworks No. 1 last night across cable, digital, streaming and broadcast. According to the network, the debate was the “most watched non-sports program of the year so far among both viewers 2+ and adults 25-54.”
Other bullets from CNN:
- 11.4 Million Tune-in on CNN, CNN.com, CNN Max, CNNE and HLN; #1 Event On Television
- CNN/CNNE/HLN ranked ahead of competing broadcast and cable networks with 9.04 million, ranking ahead of #2 Fox News 8.8 million and #3 ABC News 8.7 million. CNN’s performance also more than doubled MSNBC (3.968 million).
- On CNN TV, 8.7 million total viewers watched, and the debate attracted 3.0 million among 25-54. On CNN en Español (CNNE), 46k total viewers, 10k adults 25-54. On HLN, an additional 251k total viewers, 87k adults 25-54.
- 30 Million Live Starts of CNN’s Streaming Feed on CNN Digital Properties and YouTube
- The live event generated more than 30 million views of the Presidential Debate on CNN Digital Properties and on YouTube. This number continues to grow.
- Across CNN’s digital platforms, the debate was CNN’s biggest debate ever and tied with our biggest live stream event ever with 2.3 million concurrent live views at 9:47 p.m. (includes CNN.com, Edition.CNN.com, CNNgo OTT apps and mobile apps for iOS and Android and CNN’s YouTube player).
- CNN’s Best Day on MAX on Record: Nearly Double Previous Record
- Largest audience on record for CNN Max, the 24/7 streaming service available on the Max platform.
- The CNN Presidential Debate saw the network’s best day on record on Max, nearly doubling the previous record, which was for the New Years Eve programming.
The debate with President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump was moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, and aired from 9 p.m. to 10:39 p.m. live from CNN’s studios in Atlanta. The debate was made available to Washington, D.C. TV news pool members, pool subscribers and CNN affiliates to be simulcast.
