front-runner Donald Trump generated smaller viewer interest than all but
one of this cycle’s prior GOP gatherings, according to preliminary
Nielsen estimates — but still drew four times as many viewers as
Trump’s competing event.
In the metered-market overnights, which represent 56 of the nation’s
largest markets, Fox News Channel’s debate from Iowa averaged an 8.4
household rating. This is up vs. the 7.4 overnight rating for the most
recent GOP debate, on Fox Business Network earlier this month, but it
stands as the second lowest-rated of the six Republican gatherings this
cycle.
Nielsen will issue total-viewer estimates later Friday, but it’s likely
that last night’s debate on FNC averaged in the vicinity of 12 million
viewers.
By comparison, the combined viewership of CNN and MSNBC, which covered
Trump’s competing Iowa event last night, appears to be about 3 million
or so, according to an analysis by CNN.
Curiosity over the unpredictable Trump fueled record tune-in for the
first GOP debate last summer, as Fox News Channel drew 24 million in
August — the largest ever audience for a non-sports cable program — and
CNN followed that up a month later with a little over 23 million.
Ratings dipped for the subsequent four debates (ranging between 11.1
million and 18.2 million), though they remained higher than in years
past.
The Democratic debates have rated lower, but at least some of this is
due to three of them being scheduled in lower-profile timeslots on the
weekend. The peak viewership came on a Tuesday last October, when CNN
drew 15.8 million viewers.
Trump on Tuesday announced that he would not attend Thursday’s debate
over his objections to Fox News Channel’s anchor and debate moderator
Megyn Kelly. “Megyn Kelly’s really biased against me,” he said in an
Instagram video that day. “She knows that. I know that. Everybody knows
that. Do you really think she can be fair at a debate?”
He then appeared on Wednesday’s edition of “The O’Reilly Factor,”
helping boost the show to a two-month high of 3.8 million viewers. Host
Bill O’Reilly tried to persuade Trump to reconsider and attend the
debate.
“You are depriving people of seeing you in a forum they want to see you
in,” O’Reilly said to Trump before asking him point blank if he’d
reconsider. “You and I had an agreement that you would not ask me that,”
responded Trump.
