CNN’s coverage of Thursday’s first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump drew nearly 48 million viewers — but most people watched it on a different network.
The debate — during which Biden, 81, turned in a disastrous performance that highlighted his advanced age and frailty, raising questions about his ability to withstand the stress of handling the presidency for another term — was simulcast across 22 networks.
CNN pulled in nearly 8.7 million viewers, finishing basically tied with ABC News and behind Fox News, which drew 8.8. million viewers, according to Nielsen Fast National data.
Overall, the 47.9 million viewers fell well short of the 73.1 million that watched the contentious first presidential debate between the rivals four years ago, which was moderated by Chris Wallace on Fox News.
The second Trump-Biden face-off a few weeks later saw 63 million people tune in nationally, according to Nielsen figures.
There were some caveats to Thursday’s lower viewership: It was among the earliest presidential debates ever and specifically run by CNN, instead of the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The Nielsen figures for Thursday night’s debate, moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, showed that Fox News Media — which includes Fox News Fox Business and the Fox network — drew 12.68 million viewers. Fox Corp. shares common ownership with The Post’s owner News Corp.
NBC Universal, which includes NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, amassed 9.934 million — but just 3.968 million opted to watch the debate on left-leaning cable channel, according to the data.
ABC News was third with 8.696 million, followed by CNN with 8.684, which included 3 million in the key 25-54 demographic.
CBS News was fifth with an audience of 4.812 million
Warner Bros. Discovery-owned CNN’s digital properties and YouTube recorded an additional 30 million total views.
A CNN spokesperson told The Post that the debate was the “most watched non-sports program of the year so far among both” total viewers and those in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic.
The most watched presidential debate in history took place four years prior to that in 2016 between Trump, who at the time was a longshot Republican candidate, and the presumptive favorite, Hillary Clinton.
The first Clinton-Trump debate was viewed by an all-time record high of 84 million people. The two subsequent debates between the two candidates fell from there — 66.5 million in the second meeting and 71.6 million in the third debate.
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