ABC, NBC and Fox News Score Big As Harris-Trump Debate Crushes Biden-Trump Debate In the Ratings

ABC News

Tuesday’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump dwarfed the ratings of the last debate between Trump and President Joe Biden .

Cable and broadcast news networks all streamed the full debate from beginning to end from debate host ABC and its local affiliates. The winner among the cable networks was Fox News, which brought in 8,668,000 total viewers (1,823,000 in the 25-54 demographic). Fox’s local affiliates also topped the viewer numbers with 4,740,000 total viewers (1,855,000 A25-54), according to the early ratings data.

MSNBC came in at 6,015,000 total viewers (1,115,000 A25-54) and CNN at 4,114,000 (1,453,000 A25-54)

But the big three networks blew the cablers out of the water, with the debate’s host network coming out on top: ABC brought in 18,312,000 total viewers (6,241,000 A25-540), NBC had 9,701,000 total viewers (3,578,000 A25-54), and CBS had 5,908,000 (1,804,000 A25-54). Broadcast channels reach more homes in the U.S. than cable ones, often resulting in larger audiences.

NBC also touted its streaming numbers — where more and more viewers are turning for breaking news events. The network said NBC News NOW saw its largest prime time audience on record, up nearly 90 percent on the previous record, the final night of the DNC last month.

In total, according to early numbers (and not including streaming) and CNN’s Brian Stelter , more than 60 million viewers watched the Trump-Harris debate on Tuesday, topping the 51.3 million audience for the Biden-Trump debate in June.

UPDATE: The final numbers showed over 67 million people watched the debate across the various networks (scroll down for final data).

Analyst Mike Mulvihill even put the possible total viewer number at 65 million , adding “an overnight rating of 32.8 and a 70 share across eight networks. That’s +28% higher than the Trump-Biden debate earlier this year.”

Here are the early figures from Nielsen Media Research:

EARLY DATA FROM NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH:

9-10:45PM/ET
FNC: 8,668,000 P2+; 1,823,000 A25-54
FOX: 4,740,000 P2+; 1,855,000 A25-54
FBN: 287,000 P2+; 59,000 A25-54
CNN: 4,114,000 P2+; 1,453,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 6,015,000 P2+; 1,115,000 A25-54
ABC: 18,312,000 P2+; 6,241,000 A25-54
NBC: 9,701,000 P2+; 3,578,000 A25-54
CBS: 5,908,000 P2+; 1,804,000 A25-54

9-11 PM/ET
FNC: 8,597,000 P2+; 1,816,000 A25-54
CNN: 4,127,000 P2+; 1,440,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 6,099,000 P2+; 1,121,000 A25-54
8-11PM/ET
FNC: 7,440,000 P2+; 1,524,000 A25-54
CNN: 3,413,000 P2+; 1,164,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 5,291,000 P2+; 930,000 A25-54
8:15-9PM/ET
FNC: 5,348,000 P2+; 1,017,000 A25-54
CNN: 2,097,000 P2+; 649,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 3,856,000 P2+; 585,000 A25-54

UPDATE: See final numbers below:

DATA FROM NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH

9-10:45PM/ET
FNC: 9,062,000 P2+; 1,942,000 A25-54
FOX: 4,845,000 P2+; 1,901,000 A25-54
FBN: 295,000 P2+; 62,000 A25-54
CNN: 4,389,000 P2+; 1,575,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 6,381,000 P2+; 1,236,000 A25-54
ABC: 19,049,000 P2+; 6,596,000 A25-54
NBC: 10,075,000 P2+; 3,744,000 A25-54
CBS: 6,189 ,000 P2+; 1,904,000 A25-54

9-11 PM/ET
FNC: 9 million P2+; 1.9 million A25-54
CNN: 4.4 million P2+; 1.6 million A25-54
MSNBC: 6.5 million P2+; 1.2 million A25-54

8-11PM/ET
FNC: 7,776,000 P2+; 1,622,000 A25-54
CNN: 3,628,000 P2+; 1,262,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 5,589,000 P2+; 1,028,000 A25-54

8:15-9PM/ET
FNC: 5.6 million P2+; 1,017,000 A25-54
CNN: 2.2 million P2+; 699,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 4.1 million P2+; 650,000 A25-54

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