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The Biggest Winner In The GOP Debate Wasn’t Even Standing On The Stage…
On Wednesday, America got another look at more than a dozen Republican candidates for president of the United States as they went head to head in a test of their debating skills. Everyone has their own personal winner, of course; but without a doubt, one of the biggest winners wasn’t even standing up there on stage.
At 22.9 million viewers, this debate brought CNN some of its biggest ratings in years and now stands as its most watched debate program ever. So, CNN came away a big winner here.
As CNN noted on Thursday, the previous most watched debate was its 2008 debate between Hillary and then Senator Barack Obama. But at only 8.3 million viewers, the 2008 audience was swamped by yesterday’s 20 million plus viewers who tuned in to see the Republicans battle it out. Even the undercard debate of the four candidates with lower poll numbers drew over 6 million viewers.
Last night’s program wasn’t just a high for debate shows for the long-time cable news network, either.
“CNN’s most-watched program overall was a special Larry King Live episode in 1993,” CNN reported. “The episode featured Al Gore and Ross Perot debating NAFTA and averaged 16.8 million viewers.”
In fact, CNN notes that the number of viewers for last night’s debate equals “NFL-level ratings”!
Despite the blockbuster ratings for CNN’s debate, though, the Fox News debate from last month was still a ratings topper.
The Fox News debate held in Ohio reached 24 million viewers, compared to CNN’s 22.9 million.
One might say the numbers of these two debates is staggering. Debates for past election cycles have averaged only between 4 to 5 million viewers.
Regardless of the individual ratings and the fight for supremacy between networks, both debates taken together means that viewers who have never watched a political debate in their lives tuned in to see the GOP candidates battle it out both last night and in August.
This may leave many political commentators wondering just what this might mean for the upcoming 2016 elections.
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-biggest-winner-in-the-gop-debate-wasnt-even-standing-on-the-stage/
