Second-tier debate ratings slip

Wednesday’s CNBC Republican undercard debate brought in almost one-fourth the viewers of the previous second-tier contest, new ratings show.

{mosads}The early contest between former Sen. Rick Santorum (Penn.), former Gov. George Pataki (N.Y.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) had an average of just 1.6 million viewers, less than half that of the average for the network’s coverage in the hour between the two debates. 

That’s a far cry from the more than 6 million who tuned in for each of the past two undercard debates, although those were on Fox News and CNN, two networks with more viewers across the board. 

The main debate and its 14 million voters blew the doors off of the network’s previous record for most viewers — the 2002 Winter Olympics, which had about 4 million viewers. Despite being a record for CNBC, Wednesday’s main debate attracted fewer viewers than the previous two GOP debates. 

Fox News’s undercard debate played a key role in Carly Fiorina’s rise in the polls — she was polling in the low single digits before a lauded performance in that contest brought her onto the second main stage, and another strong performance there briefly vaulted her into double-digit polling. 

But since then, the field has winnowed with the ascension of Fiorina and the withdrawal of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) and Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.). 

The future of the undercard was briefly in doubt after last month’s CNN debate, with Republican National Committee (RNC) chief strategist Sean Spicer saying he doubted that it would continue.

But despite that prediction, it remained part of Wednesday’s CNBC debate and another one is scheduled to precede next month’s Fox Business debate on Nov. 10. CNN, which is hosting the December GOP debate, has not yet released its criteria, so it’s unclear whether the network will abandon the practice. 

Doug Heye, a GOP strategist and former RNC spokesman, noted that the networks have an “economic incentive” to host the earlier debate. 

“Just because they have much lower ratings than the general debates doesn’t mean they aren’t good ratings for 6 o’clock,” he said. 

“My guess is that CNBC’s ratings for the undercard debate was a good one for CNBC at that time.” 

Brian Steel, a CNBC spokesman, told The Hill that the undercard was, in fact, “higher than the average for ‘Mad Money,’ ” the financial news show that typically fills the network’s 6 p.m. slot. 

Matt Mackowiak, another GOP strategist, agrees that the undercard has “no downside” for the networks but believes its days could be numbered as the calendar creeps closer to primary season.

“There’s a real question about whether those four particular campaigns will still be going in the next six weeks,” he said.