Presidential Debate Ratings: 52.4 Million As ABC, Fox News Win

TVWeek:

By making a night of it, ABC came out a winner Friday, drawing 11.04 million viewers for the first of three presidential debates between Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain. The network led all broadcast and cable outlets for the debate and the post-debate analysis.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 52.42 million viewers watched the debate on 11 broadcast and cable networks.

The post-debate analysis with ABC's Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos averaged 8.27 million viewers, giving the network a significant lead over NBC's 7.12 million viewers and CBS' 6.14 million viewers in the same time frame.

Among cable networks, Fox News Channel attracted the largest audience for the debate and the analysis following. The debate, from 9 p.m. through 10:38 p.m. EDT, averaged 8.21 million viewers, making it the cable channel's second-highest-rated presidential debate ever, behind the 9.56 million viewers who tuned in for the Bush-Kerry faceoff on Sept. 30, 2004.

CNN's audience for the debate was 7.14 million viewers. MSNBC averaged 3.92 million viewers.

Read the whole story: TVWeek

Comments

[FATGIRL37]

I did watch the debate on ABC, but the channel does not matter unless you watch the commentary after the debate. I thought McCain won the debate overall. He definitely has more experience to run the government and I am just sorry that there are too many people in this country who are naive and do not do enough research.

[Veratruth]

Sen. Biden sent an email reminding me to watch the debates but he DID NOT mention a network. Someone LIED about being told to watch a certain network. I wanted to watch CNN, but it was blacked out for some unknown reason. I called the the cable co. the next day and they said, "sorry." Did anyone hear about 60 Minutes being blocked out in Huntlville, Ala. when they did a segment on Karl Rove and former Alabama governor?

[littlepuffycloud]

I recvd text from Obama campaign to watch on cnn...then a couple of hours later, recvd another text from O's campaign to watch on any cable news network. The campaign said using cnn was shorter than 'on any cable news network'... the 2nd message was also after the story appeared on Huffpo.
I thought nothing of the first message, and watched on PBS anyway. In any case, McAngry looked like an old crabby grouch and we could feel his hatred for Senator O coming through the televsion. I never thought I could dislike anyone as much as Bush...but his performance pushed him past His CHimpiness.

[PT6]

It is interesting that ARIZONA had the "LOWEST VIEWER SHIP OF THE DEBATES in AMERICA!"

I guess they are EXTREMELY TIRED of McGimmicks Flip Flops, TRICKS, GAMES, DISTORTIONS, CONDESCENSION, and SCOWLING GRUMPINESS!

AMERICA IS ALREADY TIRED OF HIS ANTICS!

[bootcamp]

McCain has nowhere to go now but down. He can run away from President Bush, but he can't run away from the Republican Party. The Republicans will be regarded from now on as "the party that wrecked America." Over the weeks ahead, as carnage in the economy and the financial markets ramps up, it will become increasingly clear. It is important that this meme be spread through the internet. I urge all commentators to adopt and spread the idea that the Republicans are "the party that wrecked America." It will work because it is the truth. Use it freely. Just spread the word.

[eden4barack08]

Mooseshit! What happened to the 57million they had estimated initially? Plus they never consider PBS, CSPAN and other viewers who prefer not to be drowned out by the corporate pundits during their viewing. There's no bloody way you're gonna tell me there was more interest in Bush/Kerry, than there is now.

[honeydiva]

the nielsen"s ratings are just like the polls full of it. O is further ahead than is being reported. And more people watched or listened to that debate. tv, radio, computer...so how are they tracking that s^h^t. B S

[dukeman]

I saw the debate in a bar with about 70 Obama campaign workers. Everyone I know talked to me about it over the next couple of days. I think at least half the adult population saw it.

[Kevanlove]

I keep hearing how these ratings are down for the tv events. People keep making comments that
viewers aren't interested. Has it really not occurred to these people that a large percentage of people watch them on their computers instead of tv?

[IneptitudePrideB4Fall]

McCain/Palin complained about Gwen Ifill as interviewer at Veep debate, so what about Bob Schieffer being interviewer at last presidential debate???

Bob Schieffer's brother, Tom Schieffer, is an ardent Bush friend, former business partner, supporter.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
John Thomas "Tom" Schieffer ------ appointed by President George W. Bush ---- United States Ambassador to Japan - assumed office 2005 and served as U.S. Ambassador to Australia from 2001 to 2005.

(Tom) Schieffer is a friend and former business partner of President George W. Bush. His only brother is CBS News reporter and host of Face the Nation Bob Schieffer. In 1989, Schieffer became a partner of George W. Bush and Edward W. Rose in Ballpark Development, the company that bought the Texas Rangers baseball club. He invested US$1.4 million in the venture, and was responsible for the operations of the company as well as the building of The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. By the time Bush was elected Republican Governor of Texas in 1994, Schieffer was identified as a political supporter.

We're talking REAL bias here.

[timberdoodle]

If that many people actually watched the debate on Fox then that pretty much tells us why McCain is still in the race. I didn't realize there were that many people so easily fooled in the world let alone in the U.S.

[NicasioKid]

Y-a-a-a-w-w-w-n-n-n...

[harriettubman]

And these numbers come from Nielsen, right? I don't know who buys into that sham system. I never have and never will. With 350 mil people in the U.S, I'm quite sure more people than 52 mil watched. I watched on CBS then went to CNN, but I don't have a Nielsen box so that throws these numbers right out the window.

People need to stop believing these ratings. The system is unbalanced, totally unreliable and unfair. When they include a viewer button with every cable or satellite hookup for people to push then I'll believe the numbers.

[Ivellios]

My wife and I watched online. How does that figure into the ratings?

[SwingVoter]

Add another 15 million to that number.

[ella52]

PBS...and for those who did watch it on PBS did you catch the great work by the NOW team on the bailout/rescue and how AFL-CIO and other community organizations were working on behalf of the taxpayers? It aired right before the debate when all the other so-called news outfits were punditing and saying the same things that have been heard a gazillion times.
Nice to watch something that actually gave us new information... oooh yeah that's what they used call news.

[aricogfj]

Why was the debate on a Friday night....that affected the ratings.

[Ramirez]

We're a Nielsen household and we (and the 50 thousand other Americans we represent) watched the debate on FOX.

[JuniorBug]

Well then, thanks for validating and rewarding amoral media practices!

[harriettubman]

Yeah, your family and how many others? I don't know anyone with a Nielson box and I know a lot of people. It's a SHAM system.