Preliminary results are in and viewership numbers between debates 1 and 2 are about even, with a few million more watching the 2nd debate at the 10pm hour. This is telling as it means it's quite likely that an equal number of people saw President Obama's strong performance in last nights debate. It goes without saying that this will help amplify any gains he made in the debate as the audience was still at high, maybe record numbers!

1st Debate: Among the major networks there were @ 37.5 million viewers at 9pm hour, and @ 25.9 million viewers at 10pm hour

http://www.hitfix.com/...



ABC's debate coverage won the 9 p.m. hour overall with 10.29 million viewers and finished tied for second with a 3.0 rating among adults 18-49. CBS' debate coverage averaged 10.24 million viewers and the same 3.0 key demo rating. While NBC's coverage was third overall with 10.01 million viewers, the network was first with a 3.5 key demo rating. FOX trailed on the debate side with 6.87 million viewers and a 2.8 key demo rating. 10 p.m. - ABC's debate coverage stayed first overall for 10 p.m. with 8.74 million viewers and came in second with a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's debate coverage moved up to second overall with 8.64 million viewers and won with a 3.0 key demo rating. CBS averaged nearly 8.5 million viewers and a 2.5 key demo rating in third.

vs the 2nd debate: Among the major networks there were @ 37.4 million viewers at 9pm hour, and @ 29.5 million viewers at 10pm hour

http://www.hitfix.com/...



9 p.m. - NBC's debate coverage averaged 12.845 million viewers and a 5.0 rating among adults 18-49 to lead the 9 p.m. hour. ABC's debate coverage was second with 11.76 million viewers and a 2.8 key demo rating. CBS averaged 8.67 million viewers and a 2.2 key demo rating for its debate coverage, while FOX averaged 4.08 million viewers and a 1.6 key demo rating. 10 p.m. - Debate coverage on NBC averaged 11.47 million viewers and a 4.5 rating among adults 18-49 in the 10 p.m. hour. ABC's coverage was second with 10.15 million viewers and a 2.7 key demo rating, beating the 7.87 million viewers and 2.1 key demo rating for CBS' debate coverage.

Edit:

The plot thickens! This may have been ONE OF the MOST WATCHED debate in history!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/...

Early ratings for cable network coverage of Tuesday's presidential debate have numbers surging ahead of the first showdown between President Obama and Mitt Romney earlier this month... Nielsen figures have FNC's telecast of the town hall debate matching its highest ratings ever (Sarah Palin and Joe Biden's 2008 vice presidential debate) with 11.1 million viewers. On par with that record, FNC also scored a demo win with 3.46 million adults 25-54. Though its returns are shy of broadcast competition in NBC and ABC, it also topped CBS. CNN and MSNBC once again switched ranking for the debate. After CNN took the first debate in both viewers and the demo, and MSNBC reclaimed its runner-up status with last week's veep showdown, CNN was once again in second place with 5.77 million viewers and 2.58 million in the demo. MSNBC had 4.88 million total viewers and 1.9 million in adults 25-54.

Edit 2: CNN and MSNBC also tied with 2008's 2nd Debate:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...



Overall FNC, CNN and MSNBC cumed a debate crowd of 21.8 million viewers Tuesday night. That’s identical to the second debate in ’08, in which the candidates also went at it, town-hall style. But, unlike four year ago, when CNN led the cable news pack, with more than 9 million viewers, beating FNC’s 8.8 million and trouncing MSNBC’s 3.8 million, this time CNN trailed FNC with just 5.8 million viewers to edge out an improved MSNBC with its crowd of 4.9 million.

edit 3:

http://www.mediabistro.com/...

