Vice Presidential Debate Ratings: 69.9 Million Total, ABC, Fox News Win, MSNBC Tanks

Update: The final numbers are in: 69.9 million viewers watched the Vice Presidential debate, making it the most watched debate since 1992 and the most watched VP debate ever. From The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd:

Thursday's highly anticipated face-off between Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Delaware senator Joe Biden was the most-watched debate in 16 years

[Thursday] night's event was seen by 69.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's the most-viewed debate -- presidential or vp -- since the second round of Bill Clinton, Ross Perot and George Bush debating in 1992 (which also received 69.9 million).

Thursday's event was 33% higher than Friday's debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. It's 61% higher than the 2004 debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, and ranks 8% higher than the former most-watched vp debate record holder -- the 1984 match between George Bush and Geraldine Ferrarro.

Cable Ratings: Fox News had its highest rated telecast ever Thursday night, drawing 11.1 million viewers for the Vice Presidential debate (from 9:01 pm-10:33 pm Eastern time).

CNN came in second with 10.7 million viewers, while MSNBC came in a distant third with 4.4 million viewers.

The Vice presidential debate replaced George Bush's Presidential Address from March 19, 2003, which drew 9.7 million viewers, as the network's highest rated telecast in its 12-year history.

Fox News also saw its highest prime-time average ever: it averaged 9.2 million viewers from 8-11pm.

CNN won the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic, averaging 4.5 million to Fox's 3.8 million and MSNBC's 1.9 million viewers.

Network Ratings: On the networks, ABC took the top spot, averaging 13.1 million viewers for the VP debate. NBC came in second with 12.82 million, while CBS came in third with 11.1 million viewers.

ABC also won the post-debate analysis (10:37 pm-11:00 pm Eastern), drawing 9.8 million viewers to NBC's 9.6 million and CBS' 8.0 million.

Final Numbers (total viewers):
ABC: 13,130,000
NBC: 12,820,000
CBS: 11,100,000
Fox News: 11,098,000
CNN: 10,685,000
MSNBC: 4,412,000

Comments

[Loki1967]

So GOP conservatives only number 11 million or less than 20% that is very heartening.

[americanalien]

Very interesting point. Fox is a nursery home for demoralized conservatives. We on the left have many places to get our news, we don't have to rely on one network.

[CAindy0024]

Fox News is a CABLE NEWS station. Pretty good for a non network......

[JRambo]

Don't underestimate Fox news. They are a very powerful Republican machine. Many people who watch them have no clue that they are a right-wing spin machine. I have a friend who love O'Reilly and thought he was fair an balanced when we invaded Iraq. Now, I would consider him a liberal.

Fox News is a powerful misleading entity. We need regulation on what is a so-called "news" channel.

[All57States]

Very few viewers were tuning into see The Plagerist.

[blindjester]

spell check

[democratsneedtowin]

:-)

[ben2skool]

Probably wouldn't hurt to look up the meaning of the word, too, after you figure out how to spell it.

[kulenski]

what about Current TV's Hack the Debate?

[kingsbridge77]

Why do you guys think MSNBC's ratings were so deliciously pathetic?

[blindjester]

Because 12 million were watching on sister-station NBC.

[kingsbridge77]

NBC and MSNBC have often been at odds. NBC staff was reportedly upset that Olbermann and Matthews were covering debates. Hence their dismissal.

[Obama4Life]

Yeah good point. Not to mention Faux News and CNN as been around for ages. Like when I was like 5 CNN was around.

MSNBC is a pretty new network. With time and when is available all over America the viewer ship should increase.

[thedirtman]

Am I to assume that the remainder of the 69.9 million viewers (minus the 63.2 ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, MSNBC viewers) must have watched the debate on PBS, C-SPAN, BBCA and Telemundo?

If we can deduce that 6.7 million viewers watched these other networks why don't they just give us all the figures?

[AMTHEONE0999]

If you coukd add internet viewers then it surges!

[ggmome]

Now that it has been concluded that there will be no more interviews on MSM for her, wouldn't it be nice, if we could stop giving her exposure ad neauseum?

[RadicalConservative]

The best part about this story is Fox News stomping MSNBC!

[GeoLee]

The real news is that only 15% of the population watching the debate even bothered to turn to their local FOX News channel. I guess MSM is stopming FOX big time. And over three times as many watched CBS, ABC and NBC. Says something about the losers who watch FOX...no wonder their views are so scewed...they are clearly playing to that small minority who have little ability to tolerate a diverse set of ideas.

[Maury66]

The small pleasures of life, indeed. Question...is MSNBC positioned to go head to head with Fox? Answer....no. A better comparison would be Fox vs CNN, where the difference was insignificant.

[MrChrisSEA]

Lots of people eat at McDonald's. It doesn't mean it's high quality food. It just means a lot of people have bad taste.

[char982]

hahaha, so very true

[judesedit]

What can we say? Still many uninformed people out there. It's sad. They are not getting the real news. They are getting right-wing bs. My television won't go near that channel, and I'm sure I'm not alone. MSNBC is way better.

[Fair]

Faux News is the cheese doodles, fried chicken and biscuits, crap junk food, the milk shakes, soda...

MSNBC is a salad with a cold bottle of water. Much better for you over time.

[stopthinkthenact]

MSNBC needs to freaking do something about it. They get beaten up handily every time.
Rachel Maddow I think is doing the right thing. Keith needs to get more creative. I agree with most of his things. Propblem with him, whatever he says on his show, I have already read it all on Huffington Post. He does not put in any special efforts, and that hurts him. Forget people who disagree with him, he needs to have people who agree with him stick around. Yes I agree with everything you say, but give me a reason to stick to your show instead of switching channel over to Fox every minute. Change your studio outlook. That brown/grey preface or w/e you call it is so dull. Then bringing in same idiotic Howard Fineman, Wolf (he is good tho), Dana Milbank (thank goodness he is gone). Same boring ppl over and over and over. What about getting people like Bob Beckel, Bill Maher, Dennis Kucinich, Paul Begala, CHUCK HAGEL FOR GOD'S SAKE!, Ron Paul, Jim Webb, James Carville. If Fox can bring in ppl like Karl Rove, Geraldine Ferraro, Howard Wolfson, why cant MSNBC invest a little and bring in some head turners. Keith lives in his own world thinking since he is best on MSNBC, that is sufficient. Its not darn it. Bring in more good people. Screw bringing in opposition. At least bring stronger, highly opinionated democrats in. Come on!

[morne]

MSNBC is not well recognised destinstion for news. My friends dont know what channel it is on. They shut down their operation at midnight then run nonsense films. They should instead rerun the best news programs of the day. They should rerun Morning Joe, I don't like Scarborough but I watch the show because it's fast moving and I liked to know what the media narrative is for the day. On weekends they should show the best programs of the week. There are many people who are unable to watch the weeknight shows and would welcome the chance to see them on the weekends. They have to let viewers know that they are a destination for news all the time.. They have made improvements during the day but I am always wondering if they will keep it up after the election. I find CNN boring in day time

[PeaceOnEarth62]

How do they calculate these numbers? By satellite? Dish TV? Comcast?

We watched it over and over on different channels just to laugh at the Pitbull. Does that count toward the total viewership?

Just wonderin'

[americanalien]

It is quite understandable why Fixed news got such numbers. You've only gotta look at their conservative base. The fact is conservatives are like cattle, they are easy to round up. Fox sells itself as a network of dictatorial middle aged white men who despise dissent from their lunatic ideology. Apparently, their conservative viewers, who like being told how to think, dig that sorta thing.

I sometimes have to laugh at how stupid conservatives are. I bet if I saw one of them on the streets and order it to sit, it will sit. Their nature is so predictable. Their masters, namely Bush the failed President, Billo the Clown and Rush Limbaugh the Comedian, tell them exactly what to do and they obey. On the other hand, Liberals are more Americanized in their nature. They are very independent and love to think for themselves. One has to work hard to win a liberal's heart, while you only need to tell the conservative what it wants to hear and it responds accordingly. Hence goes the saying "Republicans fall in line while Democrats fall in love".

[judesedit]

You got the facts right, americanalien. I couldn't agree more. Is the affliction hereditary, I wonder?
Didn't their brains finish developing properly? Or is it a brick wall somewhere between the ears that keeps them from wanting to learn the truth? I find it absolutely astounding how many people vote against their own best interests?????

[Whatgoingon]

The fact that Fox gets that many viewers shows that its plenty of dumb people in this world. Which is why McCain still has a chance

[ChefDC]

I couldn't watch it on cnn, the independent voter meter was too F***ing distracting, so i watched it on gwen ifill's channel pbs.

fox sucks, hannity swallows!!!

[andvoodoo2]

Hey gang!

Hurry and look at this before it gets taken down! It's a clip from a leaked upcoming "Simpsons" episode (Treehouse of Horror) that shows Homer trying to vote!

http://therockofneworleans.com/pages/meltaylor.html?_show

[love5pets]

Sarah Palin is wired during the debate. There is a black u-shaped wire sticking out from behind her right shoulder - camera left to us. It's a black, shiny wire that snakes up to her hair and you can see it clearly against her auburn hair.

When Biden is speaking, she is furiously writing down crypt notes in order to respond. Notice how her timing is off - hesitant in responding to him. Look at her timing when she comes out with the "white flag" phrase.

Somebody put me out of my misery and tell me, it ain't so.

[americanalien]

I thought I was the only one who noticed this.

[westportmike]

It was obvious she was being fed, I can't believe this hasn't been looked into yet.

[RadicalConservative]

Yeah --- aliens were whispering in her ear, telling her what to say.