The ratings are rolling in and according to the numbers, TV viewing on election night dropped off sharply from four years ago. There's even a good chance it will go down as the least watched election night in at least 20 years.
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00:00The ratings are rolling in, and according to the numbers, TV viewing on election night dropped
00:04off sharply from four years ago. There's even a good chance it will go down as the least watched
00:09election night in at least 20 years. Based on preliminary ratings from Nielsen,
00:15primetime coverage of the presidential election averaged about 36.6 million viewers across the
00:20big four broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, and the three biggest cable news channels,
00:27CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. That's a steep drop from the 50.7 million who tuned into those outlets
00:33four years ago. All seven outlets saw their numbers from 8 to 11 p.m. fall compared to 2020.
00:39As for the results, Donald Trump was elected to his second term, with most news outlets calling
00:43the race early Wednesday morning. Fox News led primetime with about 9.8 million viewers.
00:48ABC led the broadcast race with 5.67 million. It edged out MSNBC for second place overall.
00:55MSNBC brought in 5.5 million viewers. Meanwhile, NBC averaged 5.32 million viewers,
01:01followed by CNN with 4.71 million, CBS with 3.49 million, and the Fox broadcast network
01:08with 2.14 million. It's worth noting those numbers don't include out-of-home viewing,
01:12and thus will rise some in the final nationals, but they're unlikely to match the ratings from 2020.
01:18There's a chance Tuesday will go down as the least watched election night since at least
01:222004, when just over 55 million people tuned in. Nielsen has total viewer data dating back to 2000,
01:28and household figures for earlier elections. Final ratings figures,
01:32including an all-network number, will be available later in the day on Wednesday.
01:36For more on this story and all the latest updates,
01:38head to THR.com. This is The Hollywood Reporter News.