Former FBI Director James Comey participated in one of the most-watched town halls so far this election cycle Thursday on CNN.
Comey’s town hall had an audience of 1,569,000, with 326,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic. It finished behind MSNBC and Fox News’ regular programming, despite the high ratings.
The 1.5 million viewers places second out of the 21 town halls CNN has hosted this year. The only presidential town hall to have larger ratings was their first of the year with California Sen. Kamala Harris. Her first town hall on the network occurred Jan. 28, and it had 1.95 million viewers. Her more recent one did not beat Comey’s.
Fifteen of the 21 declared presidential candidates have hosted town halls on CNN.
Presidential town hall ratings (chart made by @RoadMN)
Four presidential candidates, excluding Harris, have hosted multiple town halls on the network but none have been able to eclipse Comey’s mark, including Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg. (RELATED: Fox News’ Prime-Time Ratings Double Those For Warren And Gillibrand)
While Comey’s town hall appears to have generated good ratings for the network, it finished with slightly fewer viewers than the network’s 2018 town hall with the former FBI director, and the audience in the key demo was down 42% from last year’s event to Thursday’s.
CNN’s town halls have produced less-than-stellar ratings throughout this election cycle compared to the events on other networks. (RELATED: Every CNN Presidential Town Hall Finished Behind MSNBC And Fox News In Ratings)
2020 Democratic presidential candidates are seen in a combination of 21 file photos. REUTERS/Files
MSNBC has hosted one town hall and that was with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, which had an audience of 1.2 million viewers. Further, Fox News has hosted town halls with Sanders and Klobuchar, both of which beat Comey.
Fox News has a town hall scheduled with Buttigieg for later this month.