From Nielsen:
An estimated 66.8 million people tuned in during primetime to watch the news coverage for the Presidential election as well as the Senate, Congressional and state elections.
While coverage varied by network, 13 networks aired live coverage from approximately 8:00PM to 11:00PM. The chart below highlights the sum of the average audience for these networks.
| 2012 Election Night Coverage – November 6, 20128-11PM
Sum of Networks Live + Same Day |
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Rating |
Number of Viewers |
|
| All Households |
39.8 |
45,464,000 |
| Persons 2+ |
23.0 |
66,840,000 |
| Persons 18-34 |
20.0 |
13,522,000 |
| Persons 35-54 |
26.0 |
20,880,000 |
| Persons 55+ |
33.2 |
25,891,000 |
For comparison, here are the figures for the 2008 election night coverage:
| 2008 Election Night Coverage – November 4, 20088-11pm ET/7-10pm CT/6-9pm MT/5-8pm PT
LIVE FEED/LIVE+SD DATA STREAM |
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Rating |
Number of Viewers |
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| All Households |
41.5 |
47,508,000 |
| Persons 2+ |
24.5 |
71,474,000 |
2012 Networks Included: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, Univision, Telemundo, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Current TV, TV One.
2008 Networks Included: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, Univision, Telemundo, BBC America, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, TV One, WGN-America.
For the full post visit Nielsen Wire at: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/politics/66-8-million-viewers-tuned-into-election-coverage-during-prime/
For a look at all of Nielsen’s past political coverage click here: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/category/politics/
