On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

The candidates at Thursday's debate. | AP Photo Ratings: Thursday's GOP debate draws fewest viewers so far this cycle

Last night's Republican primary debate on Fox Business Network averaged 11 million total viewers, making it the least watched GOP debate this election cycle, according to ratings data from Nielsen.

Of those 11 million viewers, three million were in the core news demo of adults 25-54. The last FBN debate on Nov. 10 averaged 13.5 million viewers, including 3.67 million demo viewers. In addition, the free livestream of the debate peaked with more than 1.1 million concurrent viewers. After the debate, analysis and "spin room" coverage anchored by Neil Cavuto drew an average of 2.25 million viewers.

The "undercard" debate at 6 PM averaged two million total viewers, including 289,000 viewers in the adults 25-54 demo.

While last night's debate may pale in comparison to previous debates this cycle, it still drew more viewers than any debate in the 2012 election cycle. The most-watched debate of the 2016 cycle remains the Aug. 6 GOP primary debate on Fox News. That debate averaged 24 million viewers.

Thursday's debate is also the second most watched program in Fox Business network history, after last November's primary debate. FBN is hoping that viewers who tuned in for the debate may stick around for its business day coverage, of which the debate's moderators, Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo, play a major role.