Preliminary data from Nielsen shows that 47.9 million people watched the presidential debate Thursday night. That's a 35% decline from the first debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in 2020, CNN reports, when more than 73 million people tuned in. About 8.7 million audience members watched on main CNN; the others were scattered across the 22 networks that did simulcasts. The network provided the broadcast without charge to competitors but imposed restrictions. At 8.7 million, ABC's audience nearly matched CNN's.
Among the factors that could have suppressed ratings is the fact that a general election debate had not been held so early in the race since the first TV debate was held in 1960. In addition, this debate was the first since 1988 that wasn't run by the Commission on Presidential Debates, per the Hollywood Reporter. The show gave CNN on Max its biggest day ever, with a reported 864,000 watching. (CNN is receiving criticism for not fact-checking the candidates.)
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