The ABC debate garnered 46.6 million more TV viewers than the Sept. 9 Monday Night Football game between the New York Jets and San Fransisco 49ers.
The Sept. 10 ABC News presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris was the most-watched network debate in 16 years with an average of more than 67 million TV viewers, according to the outlet.
The number does not include streaming and is a combination of those who tuned into ABC, CNN, Fox News, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and Fox. It does not include those who watched it on Newsmax, PBS, NewsNation, Scripps News, BET, Univision, Headline News, Telemundo, and Fox Business.
An average of 26.4 million people watched the debate on linear and streaming platforms.
ABC said it was “the most-viewed live event by hours streamed on Disney+ in the U.S. to date.”
The ABC debate attracted about 15.83 million, or 31 percent, more viewers than the June 27 debate on CNN between Trump and President Joe Biden, who dropped out weeks later and endorsed Harris to become the Democratic Party nominee.
Overall, the CNN debate had 51.3 million TV viewers across multiple networks—the lowest figure since the first 2012 debate between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
An average of more than 19 million people tuned into ABC directly for the Trump–Harris debate, which was moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis.
An average of more than 21.32 million viewers aged 25 to 54 tuned into the debate on the network and other outlets—more than 7.5 million, or 54 percent, more than the CNN debate.
The Trump–Harris debate also attracted an average of 54.4 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 across all outlets—about 53 percent more than the CNN debate.
Both of those age ranges are key demographics when analyzing viewership numbers.
The sources behind the ratings include Nielsen.
Nonetheless, the 20.5 million TV viewers watching the Monday night game was the second most-watched game in the franchise’s 19-year history. The most-watched game was the 2023 match between the Jets and the Buffalo Bills, which had 22.7 million viewers.
As with the debate, the viewership number does not include streaming.
