CNN's telecast of the seventh Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night in Des Moines, Iowa, drew 7.3 million viewers, according to early numbers from Nielsen Media Research.

That is an increase from the 6.2 million viewers who watched the PBS-Politico debate broadcast in mid-December and the 6.5 million who watched the MSNBC debate the previous month.

The first Democratic debate, held in late June, drew by far the most viewers of the 2020 cycle, with 18.1 million tuning in across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.

In the 25- to 54-year-old demographic sought by advertisers, Tuesday night's debate drew 2.1 million viewers.

During the time the debate ran — from 9 to 11:15 p.m. ET — Fox

News delivered 3.1 million total viewers and MSNBC drew a total of 1.7 million viewers.

The debate, the last before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, was moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Abby Phillip as well as Des Moines Register chief political correspondent Brianne Pfannenstiel.