The third presidential debate experienced a robust bounce back in terms of viewership.
The debate, which occurred Thursday night, had 14 million viewers when combining the audience from the broadcasts on ABC News and Univision, according to early Nielsen Media Research. There were 4 million people in the key 25-54 age demographic.
Comparatively, July’s debate, which was broadcast in two parts on CNN, averaged 8.2 million and 10.1 million in viewers and 2.4 million and 2.8 million among people aged 25-54 respectively.
The first night of the first debate, hosted by NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo, had an audience of slightly more than 15 million viewers. The second night was even higher, coming in at 18.1 million viewers.
Thursday night’s debate likely had the surge in its audience as a result of all the candidates being on one stage in one night. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s also the 2020 favorite, had not gone up against Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren until this event.
The next debate will be at Otterbein University on Oct. 15, and it’ll be hosted by CNN and the New York Times.
Fox News’ Republican primary debate in August 2015 still ranks as the highest-rated one with 24 million viewers.
