or


[10/04/12 - 04:10 PM]
More Americans Turned to ABC News for Coverage and Analysis of the First Presidential Debate Than Any Other Outlet
ABC further spins the numbers for Wednesday, October 3.

[via press release from ABC]

**PLEASE NOTE: The following ratings information is based on Nielsen's National Ratings, which were released at approximately 4PM this afternoon and are accurate. Earlier media reports were based on Fast Affiliate ratings information, which for a live event airing nationwide are typically unreliable.

MORE AMERICANS TURNED TO ABC NEWS FOR COVERAGE AND ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE THAN ANY OTHER OUTLET

11.252 Million Viewers Watched the First Presidential Debate on the ABC Television Network

8.865 Million Americans Turned to Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos And the ABC News Powerhouse Political Team for Post-Debate Analysis

"Vote 2012: Presidential Debate-Wed" (9:00-10:32 p.m.)

On its first night of debate coverage, ABC News' "Your Voice, Your Vote - 2012 Presidential Debate" drew an average audience of 11.3 million viewers, qualifying as Wednesday's #1 program among Total Viewers. Airing from 9:00-10:32 p.m., ABC News delivered the most-watched coverage of the debate, outdrawing CBS by 7% (10.6 million) and NBC by 2% (11.1 million).

· ABC's debate coverage was up over the network's coverage of the first Presidential debate four years ago by 2% in Total Viewers (11.0 million on 9/26/08).

"Vote 2012: Analysis-Wed-10/3" (10:32-11:00 p.m.)

ABC News' analysis of the 2012 Presidential Debate on Wednesday night ranked as the #1 post-debate analysis in Total Viewers (8.9 million), topping NBC's coverage by 2% (8.7 million) and CBS' coverage by 27% (7.0 million).

· ABC's analysis of the 2012 Presidential debate grew by 7% in Total Viewers from the Net's analysis on the comparable night four years ago (8.3 million on 9/26/08).

· The ABC News debate analysis delivered the Network's best performance in the half-hour in nearly 1 year in Total Viewers - since 11/9/11.

Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos anchored ABC's special coverage of the first Presidential debate in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, October 3. To give viewers the whole picture on how each candidate performed and what impact it could have on the campaign going forward, Sawyer and Stephanopoulos were joined by members of ABC's powerhouse political team including - Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper, "ABC World News" Weekend Anchor David Muir, Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl - who reported from ABC's Fact or Fiction Desk -- as well as ABC News Political Contributors George Will, Matthew Dowd, Nicolle Wallace, Donna Brazile and Austan Goolsbee.

Marc Burstein is the senior executive producer of ABC News Special Events.

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE RATINGS (October 3 - 9:00-10:32pm)

Total Viewers Adults 25-54
ABC 11,252,000 3.92; 4,651,000
NBC 11,069,000 4.34; 5,156,000
CBS 10,576,000 3.80; 4,507,000

ANALYSIS OF FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE RATINGS (10:32-11:00pm)

Total Viewers Adults 25-54
ABC 8,865,000 2.97; 3,527,000
NBC 8,719,000 3.29; 3,899,000
CBS 7,010,000 2.48; 2,945,000





  [october 2012]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/09/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers"
"Nightline" saw gains on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+3% - 663,000 vs. 644,000) and Adults 18-49 (+4% - 96,000 vs. 92,000).

[07/08/25 - 06:05 PM]
ESPN Formula 1 Coverage Enjoying Record-Breaking Season of Viewership
11 of 12 races held so far this season have had year-over-year viewership growth and seven of the 12 have set event viewership records.

[07/08/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 30: "Squid Game" Season 3 Leads Top 10 Globally, Climbs to No. 3 on Most Popular
Plus: "The Waterfront" maintained its Top 10 empire as the No. 1 English show in its third week with 5.6 million views.

[07/08/25 - 06:30 AM]
New AMC/AMC+ Epic Adventure Drama "Nautilus" Surfaces with 2.6 Million Premiere Night Viewers on Linear TV
The highly anticipated series premiered on Sunday, June 29 on AMC and AMC+, with new episodes premiering weekly on Sundays until the thrilling two-episode season finale on August 17.

[07/03/25 - 02:33 PM]
ABC News Same-Day Primetime Special "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" Is No. 1 in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
Versus the competition in the time period, "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" outperformed NBC by +40% in Adults 18-49 (212,000 vs. 151,000) and +22% in Adults 25-54.

[07/02/25 - 06:44 PM]
Tyler Perry's "Divorced Sistas" Quickly Rises to Become BET+'s Most Watched Original Series in Platform History
Just halfway through the eight-episode season, existing subscribers and new fans of the show have boosted the drama series to the most-watched series premiere on BET+ in just three weeks.

[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM]
Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event
"Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.

[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.