First 2024 GOP presidential primary debate averaged 13 million viewers: report

Fox News reports that this debate had more views than the GOP primary in 2016.

Published: August 24, 2023 5:45pm

Updated: August 24, 2023 5:59pm

The first Republican primary debate, which aired on Fox News, had an average of 13 million viewers, according to the network.

The debate was aired Wednesday night and was titled "Democracy 24: FOX News Republican Primary Debate." It was moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Data from Nielsen Media Research showed that the debate averaged 12,803,000 viewers, topping more than 70% of all presidential primary debates in the last two cycles

According to Fox News, the debate received more viewers than the primary debate in 2016 in Iowa, which averaged 12.5 million total viewers. Both debates were notable for the absence of Donald Trump, who won both the nomination and general election in 2016, and currently leads in polling for the 2024 election.

The online interview that Trump did with ex-Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson, during the same time as the debate, has gotten over 200 million views.