The audience for Monday's matchup for the ad-supported broadcast and cable networks as well as PBS reached 84 million, according to Nielsen numbers. That figure reflects the average total number of people who watched the program throughout.
Monday's face-off tops the previous record for a presidential debate set when 80.6 million viewers watched President Carter and Ronald Reagan clash on Oct. 28, 1980. It was their only meeting of that year's presidential campaign, which occurred in an era when U.S. households had only a few channels to choose from.
The political news media was billing the Monday night showdown between the former first lady/senator/secretary of State and the real estate mogul turned reality TV star as the Super Bowl of political events. Trump's startlingly successful campaign for the Republican nomination drove ratings for the debates during the primary season to record levels. That continued Monday night, though the final audience number fell short of the 100 million-plus viewers some had predicted.
"The debate was record-setting but not record-shattering," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Still, 84 million is a big chunk of the approximately 135 million expected to vote this year. Not too shabby."
The viewership figures understated how many people watched the debate, although by how much is uncertain. The total across broadcast and cable networks measured by Nielsen does not include viewers who watched the debate through various video streams available online. Streaming probably cut into the TV audience number, as younger viewers have turned to digital devices to watch programs and live events since the 2012 presidential debates, the highest of which averaged 67.2 million television viewers.
Several networks reported sharp upsurges in usage for their streaming video offering of the debates, but none offered definitive data on how many people watched online.
Among the other broadcast networks, ABC drew 13.5 million viewers, followed by CBS (12.08 million), Fox (5.57 million), PBS (2.96 million), Univision (2.47 million) and Telemundo (1.76 million).
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable channel to carry the event, averaging 11.36 million viewers. Next were CNN (9.8 million), MSNBC (4.89 million), Fox Business Network (673,000) and CNBC (520,000).
Twitter: @SteveBattaglio
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5:50 p.m.: This article has been revised throughout for additional updates and for clarity.
This was originally posted at 12:10 p.m.