Vance-Walz Debate Draws 43.2 Million Viewers, Down 25% From 2020 VP Faceoff

Wednesday’s vice presidential debate between Republican candidate JD Vance and Democratic nominee Tim Walz was mostly free of fireworks, and that was perhaps reflected in the ratings for the event as well. The debate, produced by CBS News and moderated by the Eye’s Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, drew approximately 43.2 million viewers — down 25% from the 2020 vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, which averaged 57.9 million viewers.

The CBS debate was simulcast on ABC, Fox, NBC, PBS, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, NewsNation, Merit Street Media, Scrippts News, CNN en Español, Fox Business Network, NBC Universo and Newsmax, and ran from 9 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. ET.

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Also in comparison, last month’s Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump averaged more that 67 million viewers.

Wednesday night’s debate included divisive issues including immigration and Jan. 6.

Nielsen didn’t break down ratings by network — and hasn’t been doing so with this year’s debates, although in this case it wasn’t a surprise, given that CBS owner Paramount Global has currently stopped subscribing to Nielsen ratings over an ongoing flap.

But per numbers supplied by Fox News Channel, CBS led the night with 9.1 million viewers, followed by Fox News (7.7 million), ABC (6.1 million), NBC (5.4 million), MSNBC (4.6 million), CNN (3.2 million) and Fox (2.4 million).

Meanwhile, ABC announced on Wednesday that Walz will appear as a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” next Monday, October 7. The appearance will rep Walz’s first on a late-night talker.