Washington D.C., the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle took place on Thursday and was hosted by CNN. The event gathered 51.3 million viewers, marking a significant drop compared to the 73.1 million viewers who tuned in for the first debate of the 2020 election cycle.
The decline in viewership was expected as the debate occurred much earlier in the year than previous debates, typically held in the fall. With many Americans not fully engaged in the presidential race at this time of the year, it’s understandable that the numbers were lower.
Michael Mulvihill, an analytics expert for Fox, pointed out that the decrease in viewership was largely due to lower TV viewing rates in June compared to October. Debate viewership tends to vary from election cycle to election cycle. The highest-rated first debate in recent history was the 2016 matchup between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which drew 84 million viewers.
While CNN produced and broadcasted the debate, they also provided the feed to other networks that had to follow guidelines to air the event. CNN drew 9.5 million viewers, with Fox News close behind at 9.3 million and MSNBC with 4.1 million viewers. If CNN had not allowed other networks to broadcast the debate, it’s likely that their viewership would have been even higher.
The number of viewers who watched the debate on CNN’s YouTube page and other news websites was not included in the initial count, providing a more comprehensive picture of the actual viewership. With nearly 10 million people watching the debate on digital platforms, the total viewership surpasses the numbers reported from traditional TV viewership alone.
As the election cycle progresses, it will be interesting to see how viewership numbers fluctuate with each subsequent debate. The upcoming debates, scheduled closer to the election date, may draw in larger audiences as the race intensifies. The impact of digital platforms on viewership numbers also continues to grow, influencing how people engage with political events and shaping the narrative of the election.