NBC News Delivers Most-Watched Program Wednesday Night With Over 7.5 Million Viewers For The Republican Primary Debate

NBC News delivered the most-watched program last night for the third Republican presidential primary debate, averaging 7.51 million viewers in linear television, digital and streaming, according to Nielsen, Adobe Analytics and partner platforms. It aired across NBC, NBC News NOW, NBCNews.com, Peacock, Sky News, Telemundo, Universo, NoticiasTelemundo.com and Noticias Telemundo’s social platforms. 

NBC News’ debate was also #1 on TV in primetime, topping The Country Music Awards on ABC. From 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET, NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Lester Holt and Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker moderated the third Republican debate of the 2024 cycle, which averaged 6.86 million viewers on NBC.

NBC News NOW averaged its largest primetime audience ever across core platforms and its highest peak audience on record for last night’s coverage. It also more than doubled both of Fox News’ debates and delivered the most-streamed debate of the election cycle.

NBC News NOW viewership was up +650% versus the average during the two-hour debate. NBC News NOW also aired a pre-debate and post-debate special, anchored by NBC News NOW’s Tom Llamas and Hallie Jackson. 

Last night’s debate was also the second most-watched GOP primary debate in NBCU News Group’s history. 

On NBCNews.com, mobile and OTT apps, NBC News NOW drove one of its strongest days this year with gains of over 140% with users watching for an hour on OTT. From 8-10pm, NBC News NOW reached its largest audience ever on Peacock with 35x more viewers than average, marking its strongest day this year with lifts of over 400%. On digital, NBCNews.com saw double-digit gains versus norms across all key metrics. 

NBC News saw gains across social platforms for the day, +33% on YouTube in total views, +80% on TikTok and over +100% lifts on Instagram versus daily average performance.