GOP Debate Viewership Falls Again To 7.51 Million Viewers

Ted Johnson

9 November 2023 at 5:41 pm·2-min read

NBC said that average of 7.51 million viewers watched the third Republican debate Wednesday night across the broadcast network, streaming and digital, marking a drop from the previous two GOP debates this cycle.

The figure is still a relatively solid number, but it’s off from the 9.5 million who watched the second debate in September and the 12.8 million who watched the first in August. Fox Business and Fox News hosted those debates, respectively. The debate audiences also are off from the blockbuster figures of the 2016 cycle, when Donald Trump first ran for president. Trump has so far skipped all of the GOP debates this cycle.

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Wednesday night’s debate from Miami averaged 6.86 million viewers on NBC.

The debate was also streamed on NBC News Now, which saw its largest average primetime audience ever and its highest peak audience on record, according to a network spokesperson, although the underlying streaming numbers were not released. The event also was shown on NBCNews.com, Peacock, Sky News and other platforms.

The debate was the most watched program of the night, edging past ABC’s coverage of the CMA Awards, which averaged 6.84 million. The CMAs topped the debate in the adults 25-54 demo, averaging 1.67 million, with the GOP event averaging 1.31 million. CBS’ Survivor, running from 8-9:29 p.m. ET/PT, averaged 4.53 million and 1.3 million in the 25-54 demo.

The debate was moderated by NBC News’ Lester Holt and Kristen Welker, as well as Salem Radio’s Hugh Hewitt.

NewsNation will host the fourth Republican debate from Tuscaloosa, AL.

The ratings figures are from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

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