Fox News Channel, looking to engage a younger demo in the political fray, is teaming with Google to present the Republican presidential primary debate next Thursday, Jan. 28.
The two-hour debate at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, the candidates' final meeting before the Feb. 1 lead-off caucuses in the Hawkeye State, will be broadcast from 9-11 p.m. ET.
Under the partnership, Fox News will use real-time Google trends and data to determine questions for the candidates. In addition, several YouTube stars (yet to be named) will be offered the chance to pose questions via videos. The debate will be moderated by "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier, "The Kelly File" anchor Megyn Kelly -- the target of Donald Trump's ire during the August GOP debate -- and "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace.
Real-time Google Trends data also will be showcased during Fox News' post-debate analysis.
On the Google Trends homepage, Fox News viewers be able to interact with the debate during the telecast with real-time insights on candidate search interest, key issues and topics covered during the event. Leading up to the Jan. 28 debate, Google users will be able to preview the upcoming debate through content including a video and election-related search terms.
For the August GOP debate, Fox News worked with Facebook, using data from the social-media service to craft questions about topics U.S. users were most interested in. That remains the most-watched of the Republican debates so far: Fox News scoring 24 million viewers, making it the highest-rated non-sports cable telecast of all time.
Fox News also released the criteria for inclusion in the debates. The news cabler said the primetime debate will feature candidates that place in the top six spots nationally, or place within the top five in Iowa or New Hampshire, for polls conducted and released prior to Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. ET.
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