Democratic Debate Ratings Fall Hard For CNN On Night 1; Down From Last Month & 2015
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Senator Elizabeth Warren and spiritualist Marianne Williamson had a good night in the first of the second round of Democratic debates but CNN distinctly did not.
Already heavily criticized for the fast paced and shallow format of the Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Don Lemon moderated shindig, the Jeff Zucker-run cabler newser has now taken a bath in the ratings.
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With 10 candidates on-stage, the nearly three-hour debate snagged 8.2 million viewers for CNN
A hard drop of 46% from the June 26 NBC, MSNC and Telemundo simulcast first debate among the current contenders for Donald Trump’s job. Among the news demographic of adults 25-54, Tuesday’s CNN extravaganza had an audience of 2.4 million, according to early Nielsen Media Research.That’s a 44% crash from the Sen Warren dominated debate of last month.
The total TV viewership for last night rises to 8.7 million when you add in the CNN en Español audience. That result is still a harsh 43% fall from the first Dems’ debate on the Comcast-owned nets.
While there is a bit of apples to avalanches in comparing the cable newser’s debate to the Big 4 broadcaster and corporate buddies show, last night’s hootnanny was also way down from the 15 million that watched the first Democratic debate of the 2016 election on CNN. Not facing a Bachelorette finale like last night, that Sen Sanders, Hillary Clinton and three other now forgotten guys match-up of October 13, 2015 pulled 4.7 million in the news demo.
Registering as the 18th least watched debate of this election cycle and 2016, last night is far far behind the top ranked and Fox News Channel hosted first GOP debate of August 6, 2015. Around 24 million viewers tuned in to watch ex-Celebrity Apprentice host and now POTUS Trump wipe the floor with the likes of Jeb Bush and others
Back to last night, the early metrics were an indication that America wasn’t thrilled with the Dems’ progressives v. moderates mash-up.
The 8 -11 PM ET event averaged a 6.5/12 in metered market ratings. That’s a decline of 6% from the first Dems gathering on NBC late last month – and consider that such a survey of the 56 major markets can be unsteady when it comes to live broadcasts like awards ceremonies, sports or political battle royales.
Online, CNN had a pretty OK streaming result last night with 2.8 live starts on its digital platforms.
Of course, at this point it is clear the big debate is going to be the one where ex-VP Joe Biden and Sen. Warren are actually on-stage together, which they have not been so far.
With the field likely culled considerably by then, that could come with the ABC and Univision-hosted debate set for September.
Until then, its Night 2 tonight on CNN with Biden facing Sen. Kamala Harris again Undoubtedly pushing back against the format, the front runners will be joined by Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, ex-HUD Secretary Julián Castro of Texas, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, venture capitalist Andrew Yang, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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