Report: YouTube Was Go-To Place For Millions of Voters

While network ratings for Election Night declined significantly compared to 2020, YouTube was the go-to spot for live election news for millions of people.

According to The WRAP, Here are the key stats: Nearly 84 million hours of live election content was streamed on Tuesday, according to Streamcharts, a streaming data company. And YouTube accounted for the vast majority of those hours, with 80.6%, or 60.7 million hours, of those hours being watched on the Google-owned streaming platform. (The U.S. accounted for most [72.3%] of those 84 million hours streamed overall.)

“Peak viewership for political streams on Election Day hit over 9.14 million viewers, with the average number of viewers throughout the day approaching 3.5 million [average],” Streamcharts said in a report accompanying its data. “Notably, audience engagement spiked closer to the end of voting and when the results were finally announced.”

Those stats stand out when considering viewership on traditional channels took a big hit this year. Nielsen reported 42.3 million people watched Donald Trump v. Kamala Harris coverage across 18 networks during prime time on Tuesday — down 25% from last election, when 56.9 million people watched election coverage during that time.

Fox News was the most popular broadcast streamed live on YouTube, setting a record 1.14 million peak viewers, according to Stream Charts data. NBC News trailed behind Fox, with 616, 900 peak viewers, according to the streaming report.

Nazar Babenko, product manager at Streams Charts, told Fortune the live-streaming platforms appeal to viewers because they allow for a back-and-forth. “It’s not just about watching anymore; people are actively debating and reacting in real time, reshaping election discourse in the process,” Babenko said.