CNN Pulls In 8.3 Million Viewers for Tuesday Night’s Democratic Primary Debate

Tuesday night’s CNN/New York Times debate in Columbus, Ohio, averaged a total of 8.3 million viewers over the three-hour broadcast. Those numbers, however, didn’t match the two nights of debates the network hosted in July.

According to early Nielsen ratings, the debate — which aired 8-11 PM ET on Tuesday — drew 8.336 million total viewers and 2.378 million in the key 25-54 demographic.

The viewership for the debate peaked in the 9:15-9:30 time slot, averaging 9.215 million viewers overall. The 9:45-10:00 PM quarter-hour represented the high-water mark in the demo, nabbing 2.660 million viewers in the metric.

According to CNN, there were over four million live-stream starts for the debate on both CNN’s and the Times’ digital platforms, which topped CNN’s last debate. There were also 5.2 million Facebook live starts, making this the most-watched CNN debate online ever across exclusive streaming platforms.

The Tuesday night debate was a one-night affair that featured a record twelve candidates on the stage at one time.

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[Image via CNN]

CNN Democratic primary debate

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the founder/publisher of Contemptor and a contributor to The Daily Beast. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.