The Mississippi battle of words between John McCain and Barack Obama pulled a 33.2 share nationwide in local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters (Houston was out of the mix thanks to Hurricane Ike). The hottest market was St. Louis; the sleepiest was Phoenix.
Presidential Debate TV Sum of RTGs, SHRs and Projections across all stations broadcasting the Presidential Debate for the night of September 26, 2008 within a MM or LPM market. | ||||||
Stations: | ||||||
ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, CNN, Telemundo, TeleFutura, BBCA. | ||||||
DMA Rank | Market | RTG Rank | RTG | SHR | (000) | |
21
|
St. Louis | 1 | 52.1 | 82.0 | 649 | |
48
|
Memphis | 2 | 49.5 | 67.0 | 330 | |
26
|
Baltimore | 3 | 47.1 | 66.0 | 515 | |
9
|
Washington, DC (Hagrstwn) | 4 | 44.6 | 68.0 | 1030 | |
29
|
Nashville | 5 | 44.0 | 66.0 | 424 | |
46
|
Greensboro-H.Point-W.Salem | 6 | 42.2 | 61.0 | 285 | |
32
|
Columbus, OH | 7 | 41.5 | 63.0 | 377 | |
43
|
Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt Nws | 8 | 41.4 | 59.0 | 298 | |
58
|
Richmond-Petersburg | 9 | 40.3 | 55.0 | 211 | |
18
|
Denver | 10 | 39.7 | 65.0 | 586 | |
24
|
Charlotte | 11 | 39.3 | 54.0 | 426 | |
7
|
Boston (Manchester) | 12 | 39.3 | 58.0 | 944 | |
22
|
Portland, OR | 13 | 39.0 | 74.0 | 450 | |
31
|
Kansas City | 14 | 37.7 | 61.0 | 350 | |
16
|
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale | 15 | 37.2 | 52.0 | 573 | |
38
|
West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce | 16 | 36.4 | 55.0 | 282 | |
27
|
Raleigh-Durham (Fayetvlle) | 17 | 36.2 | 54.0 | 377 | |
51
|
Buffalo | 18 | 36.1 | 54.0 | 230 | |
25
|
Indianapolis | 19 | 35.3 | 59.0 | 379 | |
53
|
New Orleans | 20 | 34.8 | 48 | 209 | |
11
|
Detroit | 21 | 34.3 | 55.0 | 661 | |
59
|
Knoxville | 22 | 34.3 | 51.0 | 185 | |
61
|
Tulsa | 23 | 34.1 | 55.0 | 178 | |
45
|
Oklahoma City | 24 | 34.0 | 55.0 | 231 | |
40
|
Birmingham (Ann and Tusc) | 25 | 33.5 | 48.0 | 245 | |
52
|
Providence-New Bedford | 26 | 33.5 | 50.0 | 211 | |
15
|
Minneapolis-St. Paul | 27 | 33.4 | 59.0 | 569 | |
19
|
Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn | 28 | 33.4 | 52.0 | 479 | |
62
|
Ft. Myers-Naples | 29 | 33.3 | 51.0 | 164 | |
28
|
San Diego | 30 | 33.0 | 59.0 | 349 | |
50
|
Louisville | 31 | 33.0 | 48.0 | 218 | |
17
|
Cleveland-Akron (Canton) | 32 | 32.9 | 55.0 | 505 | |
37
|
San Antonio | 33 | 32.9 | 48.0 | 261 | |
20
|
Sacramnto-Stkton-Modesto | 34 | 32.7 | 55.0 | 454 | |
4
|
Philadelphia | 35 | 32.1 | 51.0 | 941 | |
44
|
Albuquerque-Santa Fe | 36 | 32.1 | 50.0 | 218 | |
23
|
Pittsburgh | 37 | 32.1 | 51.0 | 371 | |
6
|
San Francisco-Oak-San Jose | 38 | 32.0 | 62.0 | 779 | |
13
|
Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota) | 39 | 31.7 | 49.0 | 569 | |
49
|
Austin | 40 | 31.6 | 52.0 | 201 | |
36
|
Greenvll-Spart-Ashevll-And | 41 | 31.5 | 46.0 | 265 | |
64
|
Dayton | 42 | 31.4 | 50.0 | 161 | |
1
|
New York | 43 | 31.3 | 48.0 | 2317 | |
8
|
Atlanta | 44 | 30.9 | 52.0 | 714 | |
3
|
Chicago | 45 | 30.7 | 51.0 | 1067 | |
14
|
Seattle-Tacoma | 46 | 30.3 | 58.0 | 541 | |
30
|
Hartford & New Haven | 47 | 30.2 | 45.0 | 306 | |
47
|
Jacksonville | 48 | 30.0 | 47.0 | 196 | |
33
|
Salt Lake City | 49 | 29.9 | 63.0 | 261 | |
35
|
Milwaukee | 50 | 29.2 | 49.0 | 262 | |
34
|
Cincinnati | 51 | 28.3 | 49.0 | 256 | |
42
|
Las Vegas | 52 | 27.9 | 46.0 | 196 | |
5
|
Dallas-Ft. Worth | 53 | 27.7 | 46.0 | 671 | |
2
|
Los Angeles | 54 | 26.4 | 50.0 | 1484 | |
12
|
Phoenix (Prescott) | 55 | 24.8 | 47.0 | 448 | |
10
|
Houston* | 56 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | |
Weighted Avg. of 55 markets* | 33.2 | |||||
* Houston was below intab requirements and won’t have data until 9/29/2008. |