12.8 Million Viewers Watch First Republican Debate On Fox

Donald Trump skipped the debate, but viewers watched—in big numbers—without him. According to overnight ratings data compiled by Nielsen, 12.8 million viewers watched the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 campaign, making it the highest-rated non-sports cable telecast of the year.

The debate was carried on Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network as well as the Fox Nation streaming platform on on Fox News Digital. Fox Business’ simulcast of the debate delivered an audience of 1.7 million viewers.

On Fox News, the debate delivered an audience of 2.815 million viewers 25-54, the key demographic most valued by advertisers. By comparison, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, MSNBC’s coverage—which was dominated by discussion of the debate unfolding on Fox—delivered a total audience of 1.707 million viewers, and CNN’s coverage drew just 754,000 viewers.

While the pre-debate buzz focused on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s decision not to participate, the eight candidates who participated in the debate seemed eager to avoid discussing Trump and engaged in lively exchanges that at times left the moderators helpless to enforce time limits.

Trump, who panned the debate with messages posted on his Truth Social site, also attempted to counter-program the debate, sitting at for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was posted to Carlson’s account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The interview was posted just before the Republican debate began, and by Thursday morning had amassed more than 150 million “views”—numbers which Trump boasted about—even though “views” does not translate to viewers, and means only that the video was seen by someone in their feed. The number of people who actually clicked on the post and watched the video is unknown—but surely far smaller than the number of “views” would suggest.

Fox shattered ratings records in 2015, when Donald Trump took the debate stage in Milwaukee as Trump sucked up all the oxygen in the Republican primary, with 23.9 million viewers tuning in. It marked the highest-rated presidential primary debate in television history, and was one of the most-viewed events of any kind since the emergence of cable television.

While Wednesday night’s ratings didn’t come close to matching 2015, it was still a solid ratings delivery for Fox, which reported “strong demand” from advertisers ahead of the event. “Being the first in the 2024 election cycle and taking place in August, we believe we’ll see significant viewership gains on Wednesday night,” said Jeff Collins, Executive Vice President of Ad Sales for Fox News Media. “We aren’t expecting the record 2015 levels as it’s an entirely different media landscape, but we do anticipate a healthy viewership turnout,” Collins said. “And our partners are excited to be part of the action.”