Primetime Ratings: ABC Wins Debate Drama

Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the first presidential debate in Cleveland
(Image credit: ABC News)

ABC won Tuesday prime, putting up robust numbers for the contentious debate between President Trump and Joe Biden. Pre-game show Trump vs. Biden: The Main Event got a 1.2 and the debate got a 2.6 across its two hours, with 10.3 million total viewers.  

NBC had the premiere of game show Weakest Link, hosted by Jane Lynch, at 1.3. The debate got a 2.0. 

CBS and Fox both scored a 0.9/4. On CBS, Love Island shot up 50% to 0.6 and the debate notched a 1.1. 

Fox had Cosmos: Possible Worlds at 0.5, up from the previous week’s 0.4 and 0.3 across two hours, and the debate at 1.3. 

Telemundo and Univision both scored a 0.4/2. Telemundo had Decision 2020 across prime. 

Univision had Dulce Ambicion at a flat 0.3 and Destino 2020 Presenta: El Primer Debate at 0.4. 

The CW got a 0.1/1. A Whose Line Is It Anyway? rerun led into the Tell Me a Story season closer at 0.1. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.