The contentious first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump lived up to its big ratings expectations with an estimated average TV viewership that will top the previous record of 80.6 million.
The total average audience for Monday’s matchup for the ad-supported broadcast and cable networks as well as PBS came in around at 84 million, according to Nielsen numbers.
Monday’s faceoff tops the previous record for a presidential debate set when Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan clashed on Oct. 28, 1980. It was their only meeting of that year’s presidential campaign, which occurred in an era when U.S. households had only a handful of channels to choose from.
The total across broadcast and cable networks measured by Nielsen for the Clinton-Trump debate does not include viewers who watched the debate through various video streams available online. Streaming likely cut into the TV audience number as younger viewers have turned to digital devices to watch programs and live events since the 2012 presidential debates, the highest of which averaged 67.2 million viewers.
