A CNN town hall debate between Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) provided a ratings win for the network in a key demographic Tuesday night, according to Nielsen data.
“Sanders vs. Cruz: The Future of ObamaCare” gave CNN its first weekday prime-time victory of the year in the 25-54 demographic advertisers most covet, registering 932,000 viewers to Fox News’s 720,000. The special ran from 9 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.
Fox still had the most total viewers at that time, with 3.391 million to CNN’s 2.464 million. MSNBC finished third, with 1.945 million total viewers.
{mosads}The event from Washington, D.C., was moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and was CNN’s fourth town hall this year. Others have featured solo appearances by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sanders.
A similar town-hall event hosted by former Obama administration official and CNN contributor Van Jones featuring HBO’s “Real Time” host Bill Maher will air live from Los Angeles on Thursday night.
CNN’s 2017 town halls have rated higher than the usual programming offered in prime time, but the Sanders-Cruz showdown was the first to top Fox in the key demographic.
Sanders and Cruz, who ran in the 2016 Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, respectively, debated the future of the Affordable Care Act as Republicans in Congress craft a plan to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law.