About 48 million people tuned in to CNN’s presidential debate on Thursday night, with an additional 30 million more viewers on YouTube and other digital channels.
network Shown The debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden appears to have been the most-watched program in the network’s history.
“CNN’s most-watched program of all time came in 2015, when the Republican debate featuring Trump and a host of Republican candidates averaged 23.1 million viewers,” the publication noted.
Inbox: CNN’s presidential debate drew 48 million viewers, the highest ratings in CNN history
— Aidan McLaughlin (@aidnmclaughlin) June 28, 2024
Television viewership was down from 73 million viewers for the first men’s debate in 2020, but the most-watched was Fox News, with 8.8 million simulcasting. CNN and ABC News followed with 8.7 million each, and far-left MSNBC had another 3.9 million. These were just a few of the 22 networks that simulcast the debate.
CNN broke its own record for concurrent viewers of the livestream, with online views reaching tens of millions.
CNN said the debate garnered more than 30 million views across its digital sites and YouTube. “Across CNN’s digital platforms, the debate was the largest debate in CNN history and tied for the largest livestream event ever, with 2.3 million live concurrent viewers as of 9:47 p.m.,” the network said.
Thursday marked one of the most tumultuous moments of the presidential election so far, given Biden’s highly shaky performance that caused instant panic among the left about his chances of reelection.
Shortly after the election ended, Democratic political pundits and commentators across networks and platforms began discussing the possibility of replacing Biden as the top Democratic candidate.
“It would be a grave affront to American democracy for Democrats to remove Biden from their primary nominations,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said Thursday night, shortly after the rumors began circulating.
“It would be a great affront to American democracy to try to unseat him now after giving Democratic primary voters essentially one choice throughout the entire primary and then his terrible performance in the debates. It can’t be done,” Vance said.
