Presidential Debates Garner Big Ratings, The Voice DWTS Stay Steady (UPDATED)

THE VOICE -- "Blind Auditions" -- Pictured: Alicia Keys -- (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)

Last night’s Presidential Debate pulled in massive ratings across the board:

The first presidential debate drew a massive audience Monday night. Pending updates, the four broadcast networks that carried the debate averaged a combined 45.31 million viewers. The total audience, with adjustments for the live broadcast and the addition of cable channels, will be available later in the day.

Last night’s truncated The Voice and Dancing with the Stars held fairly steady–The Voice ratings at 3.3 in the 18-49 demo fell 1/10th of a point against last Mondy’s premiere. Dancing with the Stars rose 1/10th to 1.8.

UPDATE: The Voice fell 1/10th to 3.2 in the final update. The Presidential Debate numbers rose. It was the most watched presidential debate in HISTORY.

The commercial channels carrying the debate (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Univision, Telemundo, CNBC and Fox Business) averaged 81.4 million viewers, just edging the October 1980 debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan (80.6 million). PBS averaged an additional 3 million, bringing the total to 84.4 million.

Viewing figures from Nielsen don’t include C-SPAN or streaming, which will bump up the audience even more.

Via TVByTheNumbers

8 p.m.

The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 3.6/12 14.24
The Voice (NBC) 3.2/10 11.72
Dancing With the Stars (ABC) 1.8/6 10.74
Gotham (FOX) 1.2/4 3.68
Supergirl (The CW) – R 0.2/1 0.96

8:30 p.m.

Kevin Can Wait (CBS) 2.7/8 10.94

9 p.m.

Presidential Debate (NBC) (9-10:39 p.m.) 5.8/15 18.16
Presidential Debate (ABC) (9-10:39 p.m.) 3.4/9 13.52
Presidential Debate (CBS) (9-10:39 p.m.) 3.0/8 12.08
Presidential Debate (FOX) (9-10:39 p.m.) n/a 5.25
Supergirl (The CW) – R 0.3/1 1.08

10:30 p.m.

Debate Analysis (NBC) (10:39-11 p.m.) 4.0/11 12.76
Debate Analysis (ABC) (10:39-11 p.m.) 2.2/6 8.98
Debate Analysis (CBS) (10:39-11 p.m.) 2.1/6 8.23

About mj santilli 34841 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!