CNN Nets 13.2 Million Viewers for Republican Debate

CNN and Telemundo combined to draw 14.5 million viewers for last night’s Republican Debate from Houston, according to Nielsen Fast National data.

The debate, the last before the big March 1 “Super Tuesday” primaries, averaged 13.2 million viewers on CNN and 1.2 million on Telemundo. Among adults 25-54, CNN registered 4.0 million viewers and Telemundo had 626,000. 

The debate produced fireworks between Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who today picked up an endorsement from former presidential hopeful Chris Christie, and his closest competitors Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

The debate was also a huge hit on social media, with the event drawing 2.2 million tweets reaching a unique audience of 7.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Twitter TV ratings.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.