This year's series of presidential debates have come to their conclusion, and the ratings for them have been the highest in decades.
The first debate on October 3rd reached 67 million viewers, the widest viewership for a presidential debate in 32 years (Jimmy Carter vs Ronald Reagan). This makes the debate the second most watched TV event this year, behind the Super Bowl which received 111.3 million views. FOX News Channel had the highest viewership, followed by ABC, NBC, and CBS.
The second debate on October 16 drew in 65.6 million viewers, slightly down from the first debate, but still higher than any debate from previous election cycles. In round two, NBC won across both cable and broadcast networks, with 13.81 million viewers. ABC followed with 12.5, and FOX News (the cable channel, not the broadcast network) with 11.1, making this the biggest telecast ever for the FOX News channel.
The final debate from last night, which aired against a football game between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions (ironic since Obama is from Chicago and Romney is from Detroit) and MLB playoffs, was the least watched of the debates, and the only one of the three that was down from it's 2008 counterpart. While final numbers from the debate aren't in yet, NBC again led the broadcast networks with 11.5 million viewers. The main reason why this debate will come in as the least watched is because FOX broadcast network did not show the debate due to contractual obligations to show the MLB Playoffs.
First Debate Ratings:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/obama-mitt-romney-presidential-debate-ratings-record-376575
Second Debate Ratings:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/17/second-presidential-debate-ratings_n_1974838.html
Third Debate Ratings:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-nbc-leads-third-381947
Super Bowl Ratings:
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/07/entertainment/la-et-super-bowl-ratings-20120207
The fact that the third debate was had the least amount of views sort of came as a shock to me. I think out of all three the last would be the most preferred, and most viewed, after all any final closing statements are presented there. I liked the way you included the fact that the debate aired against a football game that had the two hometowns of the candidates as opponents. This is something I did not know but was pleased to learn.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents watched every last debate, I only came in at like the end of each debate, I personally think from what i have heard that the last two debates were the best, again personally I cant wait for elections to be over this was the longest election ever lol
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