CNN’S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE DRAWS 51.3 MILLION VIEWERS
CNN IS THE #1 NETWORK ACROSS ALL BROADCAST AND CABLE
HIGHEST RATED PROGRAM IN CNN HISTORY
LARGEST LIVESTREAMED EVENT IN CNN HISTORY
ATLANTA, GA – (June 28, 2024) – A combined 51.27 million total viewers watched the CNN Presidential Debate on television last night. Among adults 25-54, 13.8 million tuned in. Additionally, there were more than 30 million live starts of the debate on CNN’s digital platforms and on YouTube, and this was the biggest day for CNN on MAX – nearly doubling the previous record.
More people watched the CNN Presidential Debate than any other CNN program in history. The Debate was also the most watched non-sports program of the year so far among both P2+ and P25-54 on television.
CNN ranked #1 across broadcast and cable TV networks with 9.53 million, ranking ahead of #2 Fox News 9.276 million and #3 ABC News 9.21 million (final data now including out of home numbers). CNN’s performance more than doubled MSNBC (4.122 million). The debate also attracted 3.379 million among 25-54, marking nearly a quarter of those viewers across all networks.
On CNN MAX, the 24/7 livestream available to MAX subscribers in the United States, the CNN Presidential Debate was the second largest Live Event on MAX ever, behind only the March Madness Final.
CNN had 2.5 million people live streaming the average minute of the debate (equivalent to the way TV ratings are calculated). This was the biggest digital average audience for a CNN event on record. TV plus digital streaming for CNN, CNNE, CNN MAX and HLN produced a combined total average audience of 12.3 million total viewers. Digital viewing added a +25% lift to CNN, CNNE and HLN TV total viewer average audience.
Across digital platforms, the live event generated more than 30 million views of the Presidential Debate on CNN Digital Properties and on YouTube. This number continues to grow. The debate was CNN’s biggest debate ever with 2.3 million concurrent live views at 9:47 p.m. (includes CNN.com, Edition.CNN.com, CNNgo OTT apps and mobile apps for iOS and Android and CNN’s YouTube player). The audio of the debate also streamed on CNN’s channel on SiriusXM.
The debate with President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump was moderated by Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent and Dana Bash, CNN anchor and chief political correspondent. The debate aired from 9-10:39pm live from CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
The CNN Presidential Debate was made available to Washington, D.C. Television News Pool Members, Pool Subscribers, and CNN Affiliates to be simulcast.
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CNN Worldwide is the most honored brand in cable news, reaching more individuals through television, streamingand online than any other cable news organization in the United States. Globally, people across the world can watch CNN International, which is widely distributed in over 200 countries and territories. CNN Digital is the #1 online news destination, with more unique visitors than any other news source. Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform, features CNN Max, a 24/7 streaming news offering available to subscribers alongside expanded access to News content and CNN Originals. CNN’s award-winning portfolio includes non-scripted programming from CNN Original Series and CNN Films for broadcast, streaming and distribution across multiple platforms. CNN programming can be found on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español channels, via CNN Max and the CNN Originals hub on discovery+ and via pay TV subscription on CNN.com, CNN apps and cable operator platforms. Additionally, CNN Newsource is the world’s most extensively utilized news service partnering with over 1,000 local and international news organizations around the world. CNN is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.