TV Ratings: Biden Town Hall Outdraws Trump's, Draws Younger Crowd

In the latest TV ratings, ABC’s broadcast of presidential Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s 90-minute town hall on Thursday night drew 13.9 million total viewers (in Nielsen finals) while averaging a very spry 3.0 demo rating.

Meanwhile over on NBC, President Donald Trump’s own, hour-long town hall amassed 13.1 million total viewers and a 2.1 demo rating — and that is with its MSNBC (1.74 mil) and CNBC (671K) audiences now folded in.

After backing out of the originally scheduled Oct. 15 debate (after it was altered to be “virtual”/COVID-safe), Trump by some accounts lobbied hard for the head-to-head town hall counterprogramming (which earned NBC News more than a bit of public condemnation), hoping to come away from it with a ratings “win” that he could wave in his opponent’s face in the final weeks leading up to Election Day.

Trump’s previous town hall event, which aired Sept. 15 on ABC, delivered just shy of 4 million total viewers, while Biden’s recent NBC/MSNBC/CNBC town hall drew 6.7 million.

Elsewhere on Thursday, per fast nationals….

FOX | NLCS coverage averaged 2.7 mil and a 0.7.

CBS | Big Brother (3.9 mil/0.9) dipped, while Discovery (1.9 mil/0.3) is currently up.

NBC | Leading out of Trump’s town hall, a double pump of Connecting did 2.5 mil/0.5 and then 1.2 mil/0.2.

THE CW | Supernatural(1.03 mil/0.3) dipped from its midseason premiere, while The Outpost (633K/0.1) was steady.

The Live+Same Day numbers reported in our ratings column do not reflect a show’s overall performance, given the increased use of delayed playback via DVR and streaming platforms, plus out-of-home viewing. These numbers (Nielsen fast nationals, unless denoted as finals) instead aim to simply illustrate trends or superlatives. Common side effects include abdominal pain and dizziness.

Want scoop on any of the above shows? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.

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