More than 73 million watch Trump-Biden debate; Fox News draws record 17.8M

The first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden was watched by an estimated 73.1 million people, according to final numbers from Nielsen Media Research, with Fox News attracting a general election debate record 17.8 million viewers.

The 73.1 million viewers for the event marked by dozens of interruptions and insults were almost 11 million fewer than the number who tuned into the first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in September 2016, which drew 84 million.

The Fox News audience of 17.8 million was top among the major broadcast and cable news networks, with ABC second with 12.6 million and NBC third with 9.66 million. CNN was fourth with 8.29 million, followed by MSNBC with 7.19 million, CBS with 6.38 million and FOX-TV with 5.43 million.

In the 25-54 demographic that advertisers covet most, Fox News finished first with 5.3 million viewers. ABC was next in the category with 4.9 million, NBC with 4.11 million, CNN with 3.52 million, FOX-TV with 2.47 million, CBS with 2.18 million, and MSNBC with 1.73 million.

President Trump touted the numbers in a Wednesday tweet.

HIGHEST CABLE TELEVISION RATINGS OF ALL TIME. SECOND HIGHEST OVERALL TELEVISION RATINGS OF ALL TIME. Some day these Fake Media Companies are going to miss me, very badly!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2020

The next presidential debate takes place in Miami on Oct. 15, with C-SPAN’s Steve Scully moderating.