More Than 67 Million Viewers Watched Presidential Debate

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Audience up from 51.3 million who watched Joe Biden debate Donald Trump in June

Debate
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands ahead of Tuesday’s ABC News Presidential Debate. (Image credit: Getty Images)

The presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump was watched by 67.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

That’s up from the 51.3 million people who watched Trump debate President Joe Biden in June. The debate led to Biden deciding to pull out of the race and not run for re-election.

The debate on Tuesday was produced by ABC News and was simulcast on an additional 17 Nielsen-measured television networks.

The Biden-Trump debate appeared on 15 networks.

ABC drew the most viewers to the debate with 19 million, according to Nielsen data provided by Fox News Channel.

NBC had 10.1 million viewers, followed by Fox News with 9.1 million, MSNBC with 6.4 million, CBS with 6.2 million, Fox with 4.8 million and Fox Business Network with 295,000.

ABC said that Disney streaming platforms including Hulu, Disney Plus and the ABC Owned Television Station apps added another 7.4 million viewers to its total, giving its 25.4 million total viewers across linear and streaming.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.