Campaign 2016 Debate

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton are introduced during the presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 26, 2016.

(AP)

UPDATE: Nielsen says more than 83 million watched Monday's debate, a new record.

The first of three presidential debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew a big television audience as expected.

Monday night's debate drew a 46.2 television rating and 63 share.

That number is a 17% spike over the first debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012.

Debate overnight: 46.2/63 across four broadcast and three cable news networks.



Up 17% over first Obama-Romney debate on same networks — Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) September 27, 2016

Debate overnights by network:



ABC - 8.4

CBS - 7.4

NBC - 11.1

FOX - 3.9

CNN - 5.9

FOXN - 6.4

MSNBC - 3.2 — Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) September 27, 2016

New York City was the highest-rated market for the debate with an overnight rating of 55.1.

Top debate markets coming in 2 tweets. Way to go, NYC. The top 5:



NYC - 55.1

Ft Myers - 54.4

NO - 54.1

Philly - 53.4

Hartford - 53.4 — Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) September 27, 2016

The overnight rating does not include figures from streaming, out-of-home TV, or numbers from PBS.

When final numbers come in, the Clinton-Trump debate should score as one of the highest- rated television events of 2016.

Super Bowl 50, the most-watched television show this year, received a 46.6 rating and a 72 share. 111 million people watched the Denver Broncos defeat the Carolina Panthers.

The overnight rating for the Clinton-Trump debate is just 6% off the Super Bowl's number, meaning the number of viewers for the debate could be near 100 million.

Final viewership numbers for the debate will be released on Tuesday.



Contact Brent Axe: Email |