Debate fever is fading as 5.6 million viewers watch CNN’s Democratic Brooklyn brawl

TV viewers may have seen enough of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders going at each other.

The total average TV audience for Thursday’s debate between the two contenders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination was 5.6 million viewers. CNN had 5.4 million while another 171,000 watched in the New York market on Time Warner Cable’s NY1 channel.

That’s below the 5.9 million viewers who watched the two candidates’ last meeting March 9, which was produced by Spanish-language network Univision and simulcast on CNN. Their Feb. 12 debate, which aired on PBS and also carried by CNN, was watched by 8.03 million.

Only two debates featuring the top-tier candidates in the 2016 primary campaign had a smaller audience -- CNN’s Democratic debate in Flint on March 6, which drew 5.5 million viewers, and a hastily scheduled meeting between the Democratic contenders that aired Feb. 4 on MSNBC, watched by 4.5 million viewers.

CNN had the highest rated Democratic debate on Oct. 13 -- the party’s first of the campaign -- which averaged 15.5 million viewers.

The ninth Democratic debate, held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in advance of Tuesday’s New York primary, was the most watched program on cable Thursday. Another 1.3 million viewers saw all or part of the event through CNN’s digital stream.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer moderated the debate. The questioners included CNN political correspondent Dana Bash and NY1 host Errol Lewis.

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio