CNN and Univision drew 10.8 million total average viewers for Sunday night’s Democratic debate between Sen. Bernie Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, handing CNN its most-watched debate of the election cycle, according to Nielsen Fast National data.
Among adults in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, the number of viewers was 3.4 million. Those numbers were broken down across CNN, CNN en Español and Univision like this: On CNN, 9.9 million total viewers watched, with 3.0 million in the 25-54 demo. On CNN en Español, there were 800,000 total average viewers with 30,000 of them in the demo. On Univision, 848,000 total average viewers tuned in. Of those, 344,000 were between 25-54.
The debate was CNN Digital’s second-largest Democratic debate day in history and its biggest of the current cycle: There were 3.9 million total-day livestreams — 2.5 million of which took place during the debate — on CNN-owned platforms like CNN.com, Edition.CNN.com, CNNgo OTT apps and mobile apps, as well as the DNC’s digital platforms and Univision’s digital platforms.
The debate took place at 8 p.m. ET from CNN’s bureau in Washington, D.C. Originally, it was slated to take place in Arizona, which is one of the states that will have a primary this Tuesday, but was moved into a studio out of an abundance of caution because of the coronavirus. The debate had no in-studio audience and took place only in front of CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Univision’s Ilia Calderon. Calderon was named a moderator after Univision’s Jorge Ramos stepped down when it was discovered he had been in “proximity” with “someone who was in direct contact with a person that tested positive for coronavirus,” the DNC said.