Debate Draws a Bigger TV Audience Than Super Bowl

Although criticized by some analysts as dull, Thursday’s presidential debate was watched by more than 84 million people, ABC researchers estimated Friday, drawing a larger combined rating on the four major broadcast networks than last January’s Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl traditionally is television’s highest-rated event of the year. Last January’s game earned a 40.3 rating on CBS--meaning 40.3% of the nation’s TV households were tuned in. But Thursday’s presidential debate from Richmond, Va., got a 43.4 combined rating on the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox networks, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co.

That translates to about 40.4 million homes watching the encounter among President Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. CNN said that another 4.7 million homes tuned in to its coverage, and an as yet undetermined number more watched on PBS, C-SPAN and the Spanish-language Univision network.

ABC’s audience estimate of 84 million people was 3 million more than for the first presidential debate last Sunday, which did not air on CBS because the network was contractually obligated to carry an American League baseball playoff game. Sunday’s rating was also depressed by a late start on NBC in some areas because of National Football League games that ran past that debate’s start.

The combined rating for Thursday’s event was the highest for a presidential debate since the 46 received by the Oct. 21, 1984, debate between Ronald Reagan and Walter F. Mondale. The best-rated presidential debate came on Oct. 13, 1960, the third of four meetings between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, which garnered a 61.

A rating is the percentage of the nation’s households tuned to a particular program, with each point currently equivalent to 931,000 households. Ratings for all types of programming have declined as the rise of cable networks, independent stations and videocassette recorders have given viewers more choices.

Although a national breakdown for the 90-minute telecast was not immediately available, viewership on ABC, CBS and NBC grew throughout Thursday’s debate in the 25 major metropolitan areas measured by Nielsen, jumping from a 43.2 rating for the first half-hour to a 44.2 for the last half-hour.