Trump-less Debate Still Rocks for Fox News

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Fox News Channel's Donald Trump-less GOP debate was still the second-highest-rated telecast in the history of the news network after the August debate, outrating all Thursday night shows, broadcast or cable.

Trump had said he would be interested to see how the ratings were given his absence.

According to Nielsen, there were 12.5 million total viewers watching the debate, and 3.5 million viewers in the key 25-54 news demo.

According to Nielsen Social, the debate was the top event on Twitter with 1.073 million tweets, topping even American Idol on Fox and the always popular WWE.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.