Second Prez Debate Earns 66 Million Viewers
- by Wayne Friedman , October 10, 2016
The second
Presidential debate did not post a new TV viewing debate record, but it did earn a preliminary Nielsen measured 66.5 million viewers. The dip was partly due to the NFL. CBS had the best results of any network -- 16.5 million viewers, followed by ABC with 11.5 million; CNN, 11.3 million; Fox News Channel, 9.9 million; Fox, 5.59 million; MSNBC, 5.54 million; Univision, 2.4 million; Fox Business Network, 565,000; CNBC, 395,000 and Azteca, 43,000.
NBC was absent from airing this debate -- and a factor in the overall results. A week ago, the first presidential debate pulled in a record 84 million viewers, which included NBC.
From 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. NBC aired its big-rated “Sunday Night Football,” earning 16.6 million viewers for its fifth broadcast of the NFL season.
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Through the first four weeks of the season so far, “SNF” has earned 14.8 million viewers, down 23% from the same period a year ago. “SNL” has regularly been the No. 1 TV series for the last few years.
For the presidential debate, among young 18-34 viewers, CNN took top honors with 2.53 million, followed by CBS at 2.47 million; ABC, 1.76 million; Fox, 1.26 million; Fox News Channel, 1.0 million; MSNBC, 538,000; Univision, 481,000; CNBC, 76,000; Fox Business Network, 45,000 and Azteca, 8,000.
