Posted on 09/27/2008 1:29:42 PM PDT by counterpunch
The first debate between John McCain and Barack Obama is on track to pull a surprisingly average viewership number, drawing fewer households in the preliminary ratings than George W. Bush's face off against John Kerry four years ago.
In the meter-market overnights, Friday night's 90-minute debate in Mississippi received a preliminary household rating of 33.2.
That's 16% lower than the national number from the 2004 debate, which aired on a Thursday -- generally TV's most-watched night of the week. Friday's number is roughly on par with George W. Bush and Al Gore's first debate in 2000 and the Clinton-Dole debate in 1996.
The McCain-Obama rating represents 55 of the 56 largest TV viewing markets in the country and includes cable and broadcast networks. A firmer sense of the debate's popularity will be available Monday when Nielsen releases the national numbers -- including total viewers -- so the debate's rank could shift. The St. Louis market had the largest debate audience, with a household rating of 52.1, while the Phoenix/Prescott market had the lowest rating, 24.8 (top markets here). Also: PBS said their telecast of the debate earned a 1.7 HH rating.
The first 1980 bout between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter still holds the record as the most-viewed televised presidential debate, with a 58.9 household rating and 80.6 million viewers.
Ratings expectations ran very high for Friday's event, given that Obama's and McCain's convention speeches set Nielsen viewership records, and all the will-he-or-won't-he suspense over whether McCain would participate. If last night's numbers are maintained in the nationals, most will probably blame the debate being scheduled on Friday night for the relatively average tune-in.
Media observers generally say the debate was a draw: "Few hits, no errors" says the LA Times. "Obama showed leadership, McCain proved experience," says Bloomberg. "It was clear throughout that they didn't like each other, but the new debate format kept them from ever really getting into it," says THR. "Neither candidate won," says Slate. "The big winner was America," says Forbes. Though polls by CNN and CBS gave the edge to Obama. Video highlights.
National household ratings for earlier presidential debates (each year's first debate only):
2004: Kerry-Bush: 39.4
2000: Bush-Gore: 31.7
1996: Clinton-Dole: 31.6
1992: Clinton-Bush-Perot: 38.3
1988: Bush-Dukakis: 36.8
1984: Reagan-Mondale: 45.3
1980: Carter-Reagan: 58.9
1976: Ford-Carter: 53.5
Maybe people have already made up their minds.
I think this shows that people already have a pretty good idea of the candidates. There were very few minds to be changed by what happened last night.
I was at a high school football game and had to catch it on the re-run.
Friday night is high school football night. What idiot decided on that? Were the others on Friday?
I hope not.
We were not sure there was going to be a debate until 4 hours before.
Friday Night not a good night.
In the tank.
Friday night is not a good night. HS football and they’re lucky the OSU-USC game wasn’t on.
Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking.
0bama needed to show he somehow could stand on the same stage as John McCain, but relatively few saw it.
What we did get out of it though was a lot of “John McCain is right” and “Barack 0bama doesn’t seem to understand” and of course the brilliant “I have a bracelet, too” moment.
Bad news for the magic muslim...
There has just got to be a media interactive reason for this revelation of political polling. ; )
Beat me to it Red South. Beat me to it.
Let’s see what happens when Sarah takes on Plugs.
I wager that the debate between Biden and Palin will draw 22% more audience. I bet 3 boxes of Cracker Jacks, I hope this isn´t a racist comment.
I wonder how many people changed the channel or popped in a DVD after 30 minutes in?
Or it could be that nobody cares. I spend a lot of time out on the road in Northern Arizona. I spent all day yesterday in Flagstaff, the bumper sticker capitol of the world. The political bumper stickers just aren’t out there. I saw two Obammie bumper stickers yesterday and no McCain bumper stickers. Saw one for some local yokel.
Probably because it was Fri. night.
Of course the ratings were low, that’s why the Obama campaign pushed for a Friday night debate.
Normal people are having dinner dates or watching football and not watching a long droning debate.
The Obama campaign is minimizing his off-teleprompter exposure and for good reason considering last nights performance.
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