Pence-Harris Debate Ratings Up Big From 2016, Fox News Tops in Total Audience While ABC Prevails in the Demo

More than 50 million people watched the first and only 2020 vice presidential debate between Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Vice President Mike Pence, up from the 35 million viewers who tuned in for the 2016 debate between Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA).

The debate will finish in the top three most-watched vice presidential debates, but will not break the record set in 2008 — when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden faced off with Sarah Palin. All top three VP debates have included female candidates, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

According to Nielsen Media Research, a total of 50.55 million total viewers tuned in to the 90-minute vice presidential debate on Tuesday, which aired on all four broadcast networks as well as the three major cable news networks.

Fox News racked up the most viewers with an audience of 11,315,000, beating all broadcast and cable news networks. Fox also scored big in the coveted 25-54 age demographic with 2,905,000 total viewers — tops among the cablers.

ABC News followed Fox in total viewership, with a total audience of 9,405,000. Its 3,258,000 viewers in the 25-54 bracket made it No. 1 among all outlets in the key demo.

CNN followed ABC News, pulling in 7,310,000 overall viewers and 2,754,000 A25–54 viewers. MSNBC came in third with 6,674,000 total viewers, but trailed behind when it came to the 25-54 age demographic, only scoring an audience of 1,405,000 in that category.

NBC News and CBS News battled for fourth place, but NBC finished ahead with 6,550,00 viewers overall and 2,499,00 A25-54. CBS News had an overall audience of 5,180,000 and 1,696,000 viewers age 25-54.

Fox did not fare as well as its cable news counterpart — ranking last place in total viewers, where it only racked up 4,109,000. It did beat out MSNBC for the 25-54 age demographic, scoring an audience of 1,692,000.

During the 9-11 pm ET time slot, which includes nearly a half hour of post-debate programming, Fox News beat out CNN and MSNBC in both overall viewers and the 25-54 age demographic. Fox earned an impressive audience of 10,884,00 while CNN came in second with 7,224,000 total viewers, and MSNBC trailed with 6,633,000.

In terms of the A25-54 demo, Fox News racked up 2,785,000 while CNN came in second with 2,712,000 and MSNBC finished last with 1,397,000.