CNN’S second Republican primary debate scores 18 million viewers on Tuesday

Donald Trump and the other candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination are still the hottest stars of prime time.

The fifth GOP debate averaged 18 million viewers on CNN on Tuesday, continuing the run of monster ratings for the events that in past years were watched mostly by political junkies at this point of the campaign cycle. Before this year, the previous high for a Republican primary debate was ABC’s telecast on Dec. 10, 2011, scoring 7.6 million viewers according to Nielsen.

Tuesday’s telecast from Las Vegas, moderated by anchor Wolf Blitzer, was the second GOP debate carried by CNN and ranks as the third-most watched primary debate of all time. It landed behind the Republican debates on Fox News Channel (24 million on Aug. 6) and the first GOP showdown on CNN (23 million on Sept. 16, the most watched event in the network’s 35-year history).

Tuesday’s debate ranks as CNN’s second-most watched event, finishing ahead of the 16.8 million who watched Al Gore and Ross Perot debate the NAFTA agreement on “Larry King Live� in 1993.

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The debate also delivered a larger audience than the fall finale of NBC’s singing competition “The Voice,� which averaged 12.3 million viewers from 9 to 11 p.m., and first-run episodes of CBS dramas “NCIS� (15.4 million viewers) and “NCIS: New Orleans� (12 million). The CNN debate aired from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Eastern.

All five of the Republican debates have scored substantial ratings (14 million for CNBC on Oct. 28 and 13.5 million for Fox Business Network on Nov. 10), thanks largely to the public’s interest in the candidacy of Trump, the real estate developer and reality show star whose front-runner status in most polls has outlasted the predictions of every pundit.

A sure sign of the blockbuster ratings status of the debates has been the high number of movie studios running advertisements with them. Studios typically pay a premium to promote their releases during must-see TV events, and all of the cable news networks have capitalized on their big debate numbers by getting low-six-figure prices for spots. Netflix also used Tuesday’s CNN debate to announce the March 4 launch date for the fourth season of its political drama “House of Cards.�

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio

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