The first night of CNN’s Democratic debate in Detroit drew 8.7 million television viewers, a steep drop from last month’s event hosted by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.
The June event brought in 15.3 million viewers across the three networks on night one, with 18.1 million tuning in for the second night, a Democratic primary record.
Digital viewership was also down for Tuesday night, with CNN announcing that 2.8 million watched via live stream. NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo said they drew more than 9 million live-stream viewers on the first debate night in June.
The TV sponsors of last month’s Democratic debate had the advantage of being first, when viewers would surely be curious to see the sprawling field onstage, and also airing across broadcast, cable and Spanish-language television. Viewership can also be expected to decrease in the middle of the summer, with the final two days in July a tough slot to draw eyeballs.
Still, it’s a significant decrease and follows the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, touting ratings last month as evidence of enthusiasm in the party. “People understand that democracy is not a spectator sport,” he told POLITICO in Miami.
CNN’s moderators on Tuesday tried to avoid some of the onstage interruptions and crosstalk at last month’s debate by rigidly enforcing time limits, a strategy that kept the chatter down but also drew criticism for abruptly cutting off the candidates.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine