Dem Debate Ratings Fall

Ratings for Tuesday night’s three-hour, 12-candidate Democrat presidential debate fell to the lowest level of any of this year’s four Democrat debates, drawing an average of 8.34 million views.

Live streams of the debate on CNN and The New York Times added nearly a half-million more viewers, according to data published by The Hollywood Reporter:

“Tuesday's debate averaged 8.34 million TV viewers, below CNN's last debate coverage on July 30-31 and the smallest audience of the four Democratic debates thus far. Live streams of the coverage on digital properties for CNN and co-sponsor The New York Times averaged an additional 449,000.”

Ratings of First Four 2019 Democrat Debates:

1. NBC/MSNBC/Telemundo (June/2-Night Average): 16.68 million (15.26 mil., 18.1 mil.)
2. CNN Debate (July/2-Night Average): 9.7 million (8.69 mil., 10.72 mil.)
3. ABC/Univision (Sept.): 14.04 million (ABC 12.93 mil., Univision 1.11 mil.)
4. CNN Debate (Oct.): 8.34 million

Tuesday’s Democrat debate ratings are on par with those of the 2016 election cycle, but about four million lower than this year’s four-debate average – and far below the record for a primary debate set by Fox News’ broadcast of a Republican debate prior to the 2016 election, The Hollywood Reporter notes:

“This year's Democratic debates are averaging better than 12 million viewers and drawing significantly larger audiences than those of the 2016 cycle, which averaged just under 8 million. The record viewership for a primary-season debate remains with Fox News, which drew 24 million people for the a (sic) Republican debate in August 2015.”