NBC scores highest-rated Democratic debate since October (Hillary Group)

[yallerdawg]

Good thing there was no competing football game, "Walking Dead," "Game of Thrones" or other Sunday night wasteland of viewership programming on.

You know, "that" meme.

Sunday night's NBC face-off between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was the most-watched Democratic primary debate since October, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings.

The debate had a 7.2 household rating, meaning that 7.2% of American homes with TV sets were tuned in.

Actual viewership numbers for NBC's debate will be released later on Monday. Based on the 7.2 overnight rating, the debate likely averaged somewhere around 10 million viewers.

That's an improvement over the other two Democratic debates on broadcast networks this election season.

From: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/18/media/nbc-democratic-debate-ratings/index.html

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Weren't the other debates aired on cable? Maybe the difference is that this was on NBC?

[yallerdawg]

2. CBS and ABC.

NBC had an advantage over ABC and CBS, since Sunday nights have heavier TV viewership. Still, NBC's debate -- the fourth of the Democratic cycle -- didn't come close to matching the first one, televised by CNN in October.

That debate, on a Tuesday night, had an 11.2 rating and 15.3 million viewers. It remains the highest-rated Democratic primary match-up in TV history.

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. Wow. That's half. Why the big dropoff? n/t

[yallerdawg]

4. Same thing happening to Republican debates.

And Democrats aren't running a celebrity entertainment show.

The first Republican debate of 2016 on the Fox Business Network averaged 11 million viewers -- the smallest total for any GOP debate this season, according to Nielsen ratings data.

The ratings are a closely-watched measure of the public's interest in the presidential election.

At this point in the 2008 and 2012 primaries, GOP debates were drawing 5 to 7 million.

The very first debate of the season, held by Fox Business Network's bigger brother Fox News, topped out at 25 million viewers in August.

Clearly some of the early curiosity about the two to three hour long debates has waned since then. But there's still a whole lot of interest among the viewing public.

From: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/15/media/fox-business-republican-debate-ratings/index.html

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Thanks for that. I'm thinking there aren't a lot of undecided(s) out there. People have pretty...

much made up their minds.

[Treant]

6. Already decided?

I turned off last night's debate after the first hour. It wasn't changing my mind and I had other things to do.

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. I have to admit I didn't even watch. My mind's been made up since HRC announced. n/t

[Treant]

12. Good idea!

You saved an hour of hearing Sanders yell semi-coherently.

I have to wonder if the poll-answering folks and I saw the same debate, because I saw a man flailing desperately and a woman who was in charge.

[Tarheel_Dem]

15. These things are covered incessantly for the next 24 to 48 hours. The M$M will always focus on....

what they choose as highlights, so I know I'm not really gonna miss anything.

[bluestateguy]

8. Contrary to "that" meme

I am actually quite capable of watching a football game and then making the effort to use my remote controller to flip the channel to watch a debate.

It actually was not very hard!

[yallerdawg]

9. And anyone with a DVR or internet...

can watch the debate in its entirety whenever they like.

[bluestateguy]

10. Or catch the recap on msnbc

or watch it on youtube at their leisure.

I know a lot of people are stupid, but the media seems to underestimate our intelligence quite a bit.

[stonecutter357]

11. thanks Debbie Wasserman Schultz

[yallerdawg]

14. And DNC!

Any more primary debates and I'd be ready for "I Love Lucy" reruns!

[Thinkingabout]

13. When others say it was a draw, you know Hillary won the debate.

[FloridaBlues]

16. But but no one will watch!!

Personally she won on substance and knowledge of all the issues
That was her audience last night and you felt that