Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton attracted 66.5 million TV viewers to their second presidential debate Monday night.
The second presidential debate drew a huge TV audience, but not a record-breaking one
66.5 million viewers.
Rick Wilking-Pool / Getty
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.
That’s a very, very large audience. But not a record-breaking one. Clinton and Trump’s first debate attracted 84 million viewers, more than any other debate in history.
And the all-time record for a second presidential debate remains unbroken: In 1992, Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ross Perot generated an audience of 69.9 million.
Still: It’s a huge number in any era, and particularly in 2016, when audiences have so many other things they can look at, both on TV and on their phones or other digital screens.
Including pro football: Last night NBC didn’t air the debate at all, and showed the Green Bay - New York game instead. That one drew at least 15 million people.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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