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That's for initial showings on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — ahead of cable news, etc.
Monday night's debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was preordained to be one of the biggest TV events of 2016 — and initial ratings have it on track to be a record setter.
Early numbers have the 90-minute showdown, simulcast on more than 10 networks and umpteen streamers, easily top all recent debate coverage. Overnight ratings among Nielsen's metered markets have the Big Four networks pulling a total 31.2 rating among households. (The 2016 Super Bowl, which is the only real comparison for the year, pulled an early 49 rating for CBS and ultimately brought in more than 100 million viewers.)
As overnight ratings go, that's also more than double last week's Sunday Night Football score. It nabbed a 13.7 rating, which ultimately translated to 22.8 million viewers. Ahead of tallies from the main trio of cable news networks and the multitude of broadcasters carrying the commercial-free stream, this puts the debate on track to smash that 2012 total and very likely approach an all-time high.
A complete comparison won't arrive until Tuesday afternoon when all numbers are in across the many networks airing the debates, but the first look at viewership will come later in the morning when Fast Affiliate ratings come in for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Unadjusted Fast Affiliate ratings for the broadcast networks in 2012 saw the Big Four pull a cumulative 37.2 million viewers during 90 minutes of coverage. That block, which also did not reflect time zone adjustments, was not far off from the final broadcast tally. The first presidential debate of 2012, which grossed 67.2 million viewers across a multitude of networks, ultimately drew 39.8 million of that tally from the Big Four.
Prognosticators, politicos and pundits spent much of the last week guessing how many would watch the Clinton-Trump debate. But the event stood to break a record even if it fell short of the Super Bowl size numbers that had been floated around. The most-watched presidential debate on record is the first matchup between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. That debate pulled a whopping 80 million viewers in a time with considerably fewer channels.
Digital audiences will likely account for a significant sum of viewers once all is said and done. A plethora of outlets streamed the event for free — PBS, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook among them.
Updates will come throughout Tuesday, the first of them from the cable news networks, but there should be a final TV tally by late afternoon.
TV Ratings
