(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Last night’s Republican debate gave CNN a ratings win last night, with a very impressive 5.5 million people tuning in. The big numbers translated to increased viewers across CNN’s entire evening slate of programs, but the build-up to the debate didn’t garner Erin Burnett a win as the lead-in — she finished third in the 7 p.m. time-slot, behind Shepard Smith and Chris Matthews. The debate did, however, almost double Burnett’s numbers from Monday night, bringing her from approximately 330,000 viewers to 636,000. Will the extra exposure translate into more viewers sticking around permanently? Find out tomorrow.

Other nuggets:

Here are the complete cable news ratings for Tuesday night:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	The5  390	Blitzer  155	Matthews  171	Special  88
6 pm	Baier  379	King, USA  73	Sharpton  136	Prime  102
7 pm	Shep  563	Burnett  157	Matthews  177	Issues  114
8 pm	O’Reilly  548	GOP Debate   1.660	O’Donnell  158	Grace  163
9 pm	Hannity  437	GOP Debate (2)   1.536	Maddow  200	DrDrew  94
10 pm	Van Susteren  515	Cooper  735	Schultz  176	Behar  89
11 pm	O’Reilly  533	GOP Debate   439	O’Donnell  102	Showbiz  67
TOTAL DAY	337	342	97	105
PRIME TIME	500	1.347	172	112
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	The5  1,671	Blitzer  622	Matthews  729	Special  317
6 pm	Baier  1,924	King, USA  412	Sharpton  670	Prime  329
7 pm	Shep  2.031	Burnett  636	Matthews  791	Issues  395
8 pm	O’Reilly  2.534	GOP Debate   5.495	O’Donnell  704	Grace  527
9 pm	Hannity  1.632	GOP Debate (2)   5.082	Maddow  790	DrDrew  360
10 pm	Greta  1,991	Cooper  2.244	Ed Show  1.009	Behar  443
11 pm	O’Reilly  1,503	GOP Debate   1.115	O’Donnell  527	Showbiz  296
TOTAL DAY	1,341	1.093	495	278
PRIME TIME	2,054	4.396	834	435
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data

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Nando Di Fino
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