Biden Vs. Trump Debate Ratings: How Many People Watched?
UPDATE: Final numbers are in. Nielsen’s report indicates that a combined total of 51.3 million people tuned in for the debate.
NBCUniversal News Group (which includes NBC News and MSNBC) boasted 9.934m viewers, while CNN touted 9.53 million.
According to Deadline, the numbers of viewers per station were as follows:
- CNN: 9.53m
- Fox News: 9.28m
- ABC News: 9.21m
- NBC News: 5.39m
- CBS News: 5.01m
- MSNBC: 4.12m
- Fox: 3.68m
- Fox Business: .397m
PREVIOUSLY: When Joe Biden and Donald Trump first debated in 2020, an estimated 73.1 million people watched the showdown, according to Nielsen Media. On Thursday night, the now-incumbent Biden and former POTUS Trump hit the stage together once again for the first of two presidential debates. So did the debate, which took place much earlier in the process than usual, catch as many eyes as last time?
Some early numbers from Samba TV indicate there may have been fewer viewers. According to their information, over 3.2 million people caught the debate on its host network CNN. In 2020, though, a reported 8.2 million people tuned in to watch on CNN, at a time when their anchors did not moderate (instead, it was Fox News’ Chris Wallace).
Here is a breakdown of their figures (“HHs” means households):
- Bloomberg: 17,541 HHs
- PBS: 37,759 HHs
- NewsNation: 382,429 HHs
- WGN-DT: 830,580 HHs
- Newsmax: 589,788 HHs
- CNN: 3,287,769 HHs
- CW: 172,409 HHs
Total Household Reach for all: 4,771,614 HHs
These figures do not include the other major broadcasters of the debate — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, MSNBC, and others — but this could be an early indicator that perhaps there was less interest this time around.
The 2020 debate reached a reported 48.6 million households, which means the total 73.1 million-person viewership equates to an average of 1.5 people per household. At that figure, CNN’s per-person viewership based on Samba TV’s numbers would be around 4.95 million for the 2024 debate.
Analyst Michael Mulvihill announced that the ratings dipped by 30% in the tracked markets, as compared to 2020.
Last night’s debate was down -30% vs 2020 in homes in the 44 markets that are tracked for overnight ratings.
A more complete measure of national viewership will be made available by Nielsen later today.
— Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) June 28, 2024
This article has been updated to reflect new data.
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services