The magic of Donald Trump strikes again.
CNN reported that their Wednesday night GOP debate was the most-watched program in the network’s history, garnering 22.9 million viewers. Even the “JV” show with the lowest polling candidates was seen by an impressive 6.3 million people.
Another 921,000 people streamed live via the internet.
The network’s previous record for a presidential debate was held by the Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on January 31, 2008 and only 8.3 million people watched.
A CNN Larry King special featuring Al Gore and Ross Perot debating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 was the overall highest seen program, netting 16.8 million viewers.
Fox’s GOP debate last month got slightly higher ratings, averaging 24 million live viewers.
However, the debate last night lasted three hours instead of two, giving CNN plenty of chances to run commercials and make more money.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough joked on Twitter that CNN should start paying Donald Trump for gaining the network such huge ratings.
Donald Trump did it again. 22.9 million watched last night’s debate. When does he start getting royalties?
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) September 17, 2015
