The numbers are in: 51.3 million People tuned in dwell to observe Thursday evening’s televised debate between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump.
The prime-time bout, organized by CNN and simulcast on greater than a dozen networks, was simply the most-viewed second of the 2024 presidential marketing campaign, the form of mass civic gathering that’s more and more uncommon in a choose-your-own-news period of media. And the determine launched on Friday by Nielsen, which principally measures conventional TV units, didn’t embody the possible hundreds of thousands extra who watched on digital information websites and social media platforms.
The dimensions of the TV viewers — just like that for an N.F.L. convention championship recreation — might be grim information for the Biden marketing campaign, given the shaky and stumbling efficiency by the president, which set off panic within the higher echelons of the Democratic Occasion.
However viewership was additionally down 30 % from the primary Biden-Trump debate in September 2020, which notched greater than 73 million viewers. Nielsen mentioned Thursday’s matchup in Atlanta was the lowest-rated general-election debate for the reason that ultimate assembly of George W. Bush and John Kerry in 2004.
A part of the decline might be defined by timing: The Biden-Trump debate occurred far earlier within the 12 months than regular, effectively earlier than many informal voters have turn out to be centered on the election. Total TV audiences are smaller within the summertime, too, and the variety of households with energetic cable subscriptions has dropped precipitously since 2020.
CNN, which hosted the talk (and equipped the moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper), had the very best viewership of any community, though solely simply. About 9.5 million folks watched dwell on CNN, in contrast with 9.3 million who watched on Fox Information and 9.2 million on ABC.
CNN was the clear winner amongst adults 25 to 54, crucial group for advertisers. Within the 10 p.m. hour, which included a spherical of post-debate evaluation, Fox Information pulled forward of CNN in whole viewers.
The TV viewers for the talk skewed older; roughly two-thirds of viewers had been over 55, Nielsen mentioned. Those that tuned in to observe the candidates didn’t tune out: The dwell TV viewers stayed roughly the identical all through the 99-minute telecast.
For CNN, which has endured a rocky interval of administration modifications and sagging rankings, the talk was a much-needed shot within the arm. The community has fallen far behind its rivals; earlier than Thursday’s debate, it was on observe to file its lowest-rated month in prime time since 1991.
Whether or not one other head-to-head presidential occasion happens this 12 months is an open query. The candidates have agreed to fulfill once more on Sept. 10 for a debate sponsored by ABC. However Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump might select to withdraw from that occasion relying on the place the race stands after Labor Day.
