Date Published: September 12, 2024 — With 26.4 Million Viewers To Date Across Linear and Streaming, the ABC News Presidential Debate Is ABC’s Most-Viewed Non-Sports Multiplatform Program of the Year
With 19 Million Total Viewers on ABC, ABC News’ Presidential Debate Is the Most-Watched Debate on Any Network in 16 Years and Ranks No. 1 Among Broadcast and Cable Across the Board
ABC News Live on Streaming and Digital Platforms, Including Hulu, Disney+ and ABC Owned Television Stations, Currently Stands at 7.4 Million Viewers in Early Reporting, Bringing ABC News Audience to More Than 26 Million Viewers
The Debate Is the Most-Viewed Live Event by Hours Streamed on Disney+ in the U.S. to Date
67.135 million Total Viewers tuned in to the “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – ABC News Presidential Debate,” outdelivering “CNN Presidential Debate” (51.266 million), based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. ABC News’ performance drew 19.049 million Total Viewers, representing the most-watched debate on any network in at least 16 years. ABC ranked No. 1 among broadcast and cable across all key demos. “World News Tonight” anchor and managing editor David Muir and “World News Tonight” Sunday anchor and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis served as moderators.
• ABC News’ “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – ABC News Presidential Debate” total of averages for broadcast and cable outdelivered the total of averages of the “CNN Presidential Debate” in Total Viewers (+31% 67.135 million vs. 51.266 million), Adults 25-54 (+54% – 21.322 million vs. 13.811 million) and Adults 18-49 (+53% – 54.4 million vs. 11.664 million).
• ABC News’ “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – ABC News Presidential Debate” ranked No. 1 among the broadcast and cable networks across all key demos in Total Viewers (19.049 million), Adults 25-54 (6.596 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.663 million), marking the most-watched network debate in at least 16 years – since 2008.
• ABC News Live on streaming and digital platforms – notably Hulu, Disney+ and the ABC Owned Television Stations apps – has already totaled 7.4 million viewers, thus adding a +39% lift to the ABC linear delivery for a total combined delivery of 26.4 million viewers across linear and streaming. This is the most-viewed live event by hours streamed on Disney+ in the U.S. to date. Additional streaming numbers will be available later in the week.
• With 26.4 million viewers across linear and streaming, the ABC News presidential debate is ABC’s most-viewed live multiplatform event of the year with additional platforms reporting by end of week.
• ABC News’ “Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – ABC News Presidential Debate” ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54 in each of ABC’s Top 6 OTV stations.
• In combined impressions, ABC’s top six OTV stations more than doubled the performances of its No. 2 competitor in Total Viewers (4,549,000; +151% vs. No. 2 Fox News) and Adults 25-54 (1,563,000; +127% vs. No. 2 NBC).
• Further, ABC’s top six OTV stations outperformed the combined performance of its next two competitors in Total Viewers by 25% (vs. Fox News Channel and MSNBC) and the next three closest networks combined in Adults 25-54 by 3% (vs. NBC, CNN and Fox News Channel).
• Among the pre-debate programming, ABC’s “Race for the White House” (8:00-9:00 p.m.) ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers (7.587 million), leading Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Democracy” by +32% (5.731 million – 8:20 – 9:00 p.m.) and NBC’s “NBC News Presidential Debate Countdown” by 76% (4.322 million – 8:00-9:01 p.m.).
• Among the post-debate programming, ABC’s “Post Debate Analysis” (10:45-11:04 p.m.) ranked No. 1 in Total Viewers (13.622 million), outperforming Fox News Channel’s “ABC Presidential Debate/Analysis” by +62% (8.412 million- 10:45 – 11:00 p.m.) and NBC’s “NBC News Presidential Debate Countdown” by 89% (7.221 million – 10:40-11:00 p.m.).
The ABC News presidential debate was made available to Washington, D.C., Television News Pool members, Pool subscribers, ABC Affiliates, and many other news organizations around the world to be simulcast.
Marc Burstein is senior executive producer, and Molly Shaker is executive producer of ABC News Special Events. Seni Tienabeso is executive director of ABC News Live. Simone Swink is the executive producer of the pre- and post-debate specials.
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 Live + Same Day Program Ratings, 09/10/24 or as dated. National ratings include Out of Home (OOH) ABCNL across O&O Digital, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube, and 3P platform subset.
Source
ABC Publicity
