Republican Debate Draws 13.5M Viewers to Fox Business

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Fox Business Network’s primetime Republican presidential primary debate drew 13.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

The total topped the audience that watched last month’s Republican debate on Fox Business’ more established rival CNBC.

The debate also set a record for streaming events with 1.4 million concurrent live streams, more than the 1.3 million that watched NBC’s 2015 Super Bowl and 921,000 that watched CNN’s debate in September.

The 7 p.m. debate of candidates with lower poll numbers, moderated by FBN’s Sandra Smith, Trish Regan, and the WSJ’s Gerald Seib, averaged 4.7 million total viewers.

Nielsen Social TV ratings ranked the debate as the number one event on Twitter Tuesday night with 6 million tweets and 180 million impressions, beating out all other programs across the board. Additionally, FBN hit all-time record highs in interactions on Twitter including total interactions, retweets, favorites and replies according to Socialbakers.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.