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Reporters work in the media filing room during the Republican debate hosted by CNN, Salem Media Group and The Washington Times. | AP Photo Nearly 12 million watch GOP primary debate on CNN

About 11.9 million people, on average, tuned into Thursday night's Republican primary debate, hosted by CNN, according to Nielsen fast national data. More than 3.6 million people in the core TV news demo of adults 25-54 watched the debate, which was moderated by anchor Jake Tapper.

An additional 1.9 million people streamed the debate, peaking with 623,000 concurrent viewers at 10 PM.

From 8-11 p.m., CNN averaged 9.4 million viewers, including 2.9 million adults 25-54. Fox News and MSNBC, which had regular programming, averaged significantly fewer viewers, with FNC second and MSNBC third.

While the debate gave CNN a big ratings win, it was also its lowest rated GOP debate this cycle, suggesting, perhaps, that viewer fatigue is setting in, even if the ratings remain far above those from the last two election cycles. CNN's last GOP primary debate, held Feb. 25, averaged 12.6 million viewers.

CNN's Republican debate was held on the heels of a Democratic debate on Wednesday. 5.9 million people watched Wednesday's Democratic debate, on average, with two million tuning into host Univision, and 3.9 million watching CNN's simulcast. Despite counter-programming from Fox News and MSNBC featuring town halls with the GOP candidates, CNN won the night in total and demo viewers.