Nearly 71 million people watched Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election Tuesday night.
(Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
As polling stations closed across America, a total of 71 million viewers watched the live coverage during the primetime hours of eight to 11 p.m. across 13 news networks, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The “Big Four” networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — were responsible for an estimated 33 million viewers, while cable news channels like Fox News and CNN totaled 12.2 and 11.2 million viewers during the hours of seven p.m. and three a.m, respectively.
(Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
The Republican nominee was elected the 45th president of the United States on Tuesday, shocking pollsters and the mainstream media alike.
“Sorry to keep you waiting; complicated business; complicated,” Trump told the audience at the New York Hilton Midtown.
“I’ve just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us — it’s about us — on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very, very hard-fought campaign. I mean, she — she fought very hard.” (RELATED: Rudy Giuliani: Victory Is Within Reach For Donald Trump)
“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division; have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”
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