Samba TV is reporting that 28.3 million homes watched the Presidential Debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10. That makes the faceoff between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris the most the most-watched TV event of the year so far, besides the Super Bowl, according Samba TV.
This also marked a 12% increase from the June 27 debate between Donald Trump and then-candidate President Joe Biden, which was seen in 25.2 million homes. Of note is the fact that 53% of the audience that watched Tuesday's debate skipped the June Biden/Trump debate, showing a renewed interest in the race since Joe Biden dropped out.
Older households comprised a large share of viewership for the Tuesday debate, as millennial and Gen-z audiences under-indexed, Samba TV said.
Ashwin Navin, Samba TV co-founder and CEO noted that “Contrary to expectations of voter fatigue and anemic viewership, last night’s debate was well consumed online and on linear and streaming platforms, offering both candidates a valuable opportunity to address the nation in this tightly contested election."
As always, different measurement firms are likely to provide different data depending on their methodologies.
AdImpact reported that the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris had an average viewership across all networks of 71.3 million, rising to a peak of 78 million at 10:02PM ET, before gradually tapering off.
Fox reported these audience numbers from Nielsen data for the 9 p.m. ET to 10:45 p.m. ET time slot:
- Fox News Channel: 9,062,000 People 2+; 1,942,000 Adults 25-54
- FOX: 4,845,000 P2+; 1,901,000 A25-54
- FBN: 295,000 P2+; 62,000 A25-54
- CNN: 4,389,000 P2+; 1,575,000 A25-54
- MSNBC: 6,381,000 P2+; 1,236,000 A25-54
- ABC: 19,049,000 P2+; 6,596,000 A25-54
- NBC: 10,075,000 P2+; 3,744,000 A25-54
- CBS: 6,189 ,000 P2+; 1,904,000 A25-54
Other key data points from Samba TV about the debate include:
- Among the swing states, viewership trends across the two debates were similar. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin saw slight over-indexes in viewership compared to the U.S. as a whole (between 9%-11% each), while households in Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada were less likely than the average U.S. household to watch. Household viewership in Arizona was on par with the rest of the U.S.
- Households that watched the Harris/Trump debate, but skipped the Biden/Trump debate, shed light into the undecided voter as they were not interested in tuning in when Biden was on the ballot but now have interest in following the race with the addition of Harris. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin over-indexed among this group, while Georgia, North Carolina, and Arizona under-indexed. Nevada was similarly likely as the average U.S. household to be part of this group.
- Older households comprised a high proportion of debate #2 viewers, over-indexing on viewership while younger audiences under-indexed. The strongest over indexes were among households A65-74 (+11%) and 75+ (+17%), while millennial and Gen Z households under-indexed, according to Samba TV.
