The second major Republican presidential debate, hosted by CNN on Wednesday, drew nearly 23 million viewers, a slight dip from the first debate in August but still a massive audience by cable news standards.
A CNN release on Thursday boasted that the three-hour event garnered 22.9 million viewers, according to preliminary ratings data from Nielsen.
The figure represents an all-time record audience for CNN, according to the release.
The number is slightly lower than the 24 million viewers Fox News got from the first GOP debate the network hosted in August.
