Initial Ratings Show CNN May Break Its Own Record

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Te... Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, businessman Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie take the stage during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Preliminary ratings for the prime-time CNN Republican presidential debate on Wednesday night show that the event will likely break the network’s ratings record.

The debate earned an overall 14.7 rating, indicating that that more than 20 million Americans tuned in to the debate, according to CNN. Nielsen has not yet calculated the final ratings and viewership for the program.

CNN’s previous most-watched primary debate, a Democratic debate in 2008, brought in 8.3 million viewers, according to CNN. Its most-watched program was a “Larry King Live” episode in 1993, which was watched by 16.8 million people.

Twenty-four million Americans watched the Fox News debate in August.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for mames5 mames5 says:

    I suppose that is because this involved an airplane.

  2. Joy. Maybe this means that they’ll work in ways to bring us more Trump! since that’s what’s selling. Finally, we can have the full merger of politics and entertainment into the complete infotainment package for us to consume.

  3. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    Networks announce they will simply broadcast the Donald 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the foreseeable future…

  4. To pharaphrase Eustace, Perhaps we’re watching the birth of a “dystopiary” future where democracy is dead and where presidents are chosen by cable news networks.

  5. All they had to do was abandon any semblance of being a journalistic outlet…so SOP for CNN.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

6 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for bp Avatar for caffinatedone Avatar for dv01 Avatar for mames5 Avatar for mantan Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for redraleigh Avatar for brendanm Avatar for dddinah Avatar for occamsrazor2 Avatar for jonney_5

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: