Sept. 30, 2020 Press Release from The Nielsen Company: First Presidential Debate of 2020 Draws 73.1 Million Viewers

New York, NY — Sept. 30, 2020 — An estimated 73.1 million people tuned in to watch the first debate of the 2020 presidential election on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. The debate was hosted at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and featured Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden and Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump.

While coverage varied by network, 16 aired live coverage from approximately 9:00 p.m. ET to 11:00 p.m. ET.

The chart below highlights the sum of the average viewing audience for these networks. It’s important to note that out-of-home (OOH) viewing as well as connected TV (CTV) viewing are included in the 2020 total figures for this advisory. Contribution coming from CTVs can be as much as 11% for televised political events.

Sept. 29, 2020
	Rating	No. of Viewers
All Households	40.2	48,581,000
Persons 2+	23.7	73,132,000
Persons 18-34	12.0	8,420,000
Persons 35-54	25.5	20,292,000
Persons 55+	42.7	40,496,000

Source: Nielsen. NOTE: Out-of-home viewing as well as connected TV (CTV) viewing are included in the 2020 total figures for this advisory. Contribution coming from CTVs can be as much as 11% for televised political events. Data above is inclusive of broadcast and cable networks, as well as PBS member stations. Debate 1 coverage of ad-supported networks only was 71.5 million viewers among persons 2+.
2020 Networks Included: Debate 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, TEL, UNI, PBS, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business Network, FOXNC, MSNBC, Newsmax, Newsy, VICE and WGNA.

Sept. 29, 2020

Rating

No. of Viewers

All Households

40.2

48,581,000

Persons 2+

23.7

73,132,000

Persons 18-34

12.0

8,420,000

Persons 35-54

25.5

20,292,000

Persons 55+

42.7

40,496,000

Source: Nielsen. NOTE: Out-of-home viewing as well as connected TV (CTV) viewing are included in the 2020 total figures for this advisory. Contribution coming from CTVs can be as much as 11% for televised political events. Data above is inclusive of broadcast and cable networks, as well as PBS member stations. Debate 1 coverage of ad-supported networks only was 71.5 million viewers among persons 2+.

2020 Networks Included: Debate 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, TEL, UNI, PBS, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business Network, FOXNC, MSNBC, Newsmax, Newsy, VICE and WGNA.

MEDIA ADVISORY: FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE OF 2020 DRAWS 73.1 MILLION VIEWERS

2020 Presidential Debates

Sum of Networks Live + Same Day