President Donald Trump’s chaotic first debate with former Vice President Joe Biden attracted fewer viewers than his showdown with Hillary Clinton four years ago, but it was a hit on Fox News, whose anchor moderated the evening.
The TV audience tumbled 13% to 73.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. Fox Corp.’s news channel said it led the night with 17.8 million tuned in, well ahead of Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, which finished second with 12.6 million. Viewers remained steady throughout the debate, according to Michael Mulvihill, a Fox executive vice president for research.
The picture wasn’t as bright for some other newscasters, which struggled to match audience numbers from four years ago.
The messy debate, moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace in Cleveland, was the first time that viewers could see the major-party nominees on the same stage.
The Commission on Presidential Debates said Wednesday that it’s considering changes after the combative event “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
In 2016, the first Trump-Clinton matchup had a total audience of 84 million viewers across all broadcast and cable networks, a record for a presidential debate. That audience broke the previous high of 80.6 million set during the 1980 contest between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
The Trump-Biden clash featured frequent interruptions by the president, insults traded back and forth, and crosstalk so severe it was difficult to make out what either man was saying at times. Reactions on social media and in cable networks’ instant polls were almost universally negative about the event overall, though most observers considered Biden to have come out on top.
The presidential debates are one of the few events outside the Super Bowl to attract a massive live audience — a rare feat in today’s shrinking television landscape. While the debate itself was commercial-free, TV networks generated ad revenue for their coverage before and after the event, and many networks said their commercial time was sold out.
Whether the showdown will sway the election results remains unclear. Only 3% of voters said they were “very likely” to hear something during the debate that would affect whom they vote for, according to a poll released this week by Monmouth University.
Philadelphia was the top market for Tuesday’s debate, based on the ratings, Mulvihill said on Twitter. It was followed by West Palm Beach, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“Philly loves a good fight,” he said.
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