Editor’s note: The ratings have now surpassed 84 million viewers.
Over 80 million people watched Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton go head to head Monday night, making it the most watched presidential debate ever.
(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
As the two candidates debated for 90 minutes at Hofstra University in New York, the “Big Four” networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — averaged a total of 49.1 million viewers.
Those numbers are 25 percent higher than the first debate in 2012 between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, which averaged a total of 67.2 million viewers. (RELATED: Early Numbers Are In From Last Night’s Debate Between Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton)
(Photo: Getty Images)
NBC — whose own anchor moderated the debate — had the largest audience with a whopping 18.2 million viewers. ABC had 13.5 million viewers, CBS had 12.1 million and Fox saw 5.3 million.
Between the big three cable networks — Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC — an additional 26.1 million viewers tuned in.
(Photo: Reuters)
The debate broke records to become the most watched presidential debate ever, beating out the 1980 debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan that brought in 80 million viewers.
Monday night’s viewers clocked in at 80.4 million, and those numbers will likely be boosted when PBS’s numbers are in later Tuesday. (RELATED: Judging By These Facebook Numbers, Everyone Was Watching Donald Trump Debate Hillary Clinton)