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.
