Fox News Beats Out All Cable and Broadcast Networks In Total Viewers For Third Debate

Preliminary numbers earlier today showed that last night’s presidential debate settled somewhere between the first and second debates in terms of television ratings.

Well, more numbers have come in, and Fox News is the big winner in terms of not just total viewers, but also in the key 25-54 demographic.

According to early Nielsen data, Fox News attracted 11.3 million viewers and 3.5 million in the demo. The total number of viewers tops not just Fox’s cable competition but also all of the broadcast networks. The demo number beat out the rest of the cable networks.

On the broadcast channels, the audience was divided almost evenly between ABC, CBS and NBC — all between 10.1 and 10.9 million — with FOX coming in a distant fourth at 6.7 million. NBC led all networks in the key demo with 4.5 million viewers.

As for the other cable news networks, CNN came in second place with 8.7 million viewers and and nearly the same as Fox News in the demo, falling behind by roughly 20,000. MSNBC was a distant third, pulling in a total of 5.5 million and only 1.8 million in the 25-54 demographic.

In total primetime coverage for the evening, Fox News bested its cable competition, finishing nearly 2 million viewers ahead of second place CNN.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace served as the debate moderator.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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