What Last Week’s Political Debate Says About TV Viewership and Digital Coverage

debate

While last week’s Republican prime-time debate on Fox is now old news, the fact that it was the most-watched nonsports event in cable-television history says something about politics and TV-viewership – namely that political debates still hold a very important place on television and in the political process. According to Nielsen, 24 million viewers watched the debate, which is more than double the average crowd that tunes into AMC Networks’ The Walking Dead (10 million viewers per episode), also known as the most watched series in cable television history.

“The way we view television and engage with media in general has drastically changed, but that doesn’t mean people are disinterested or not watching political events.

To give some context on TV viewership for political events, the 2012 presidential election night coverage on Fox News attracted 11.8 million viewers. The Wall Street Journal reports that one of the most viewed political debates was between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, which garnered 80 million viewers in 1980, during a time when only three broadcast networks were available, and before the founder of Facebook was even born. But that’s not to say that a political event can’t attract that kind of engagement today. With the plethora of new media, mobile platforms and online commentary news sites available, there are more ways to connect with and excite people about the debate nowadays than there was before, whether before, during, or after an event. The way we view television and engage with media in general has drastically changed, but that doesn’t mean people are disinterested or not watching political events. With all the mobile and digital platforms around, overall awareness and engagement in the debate across all mediums may have even topped 80 million.

Presidential candidates started embracing new media in 2008, changing the way politicians campaigned and interacted with potential voters. Then candidate and Sen. Barack Obama reached younger age groups through Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and started his own social network, My.BarackObama.com. Now campaigns are completely immersed in the digital era and it would be incredibly strange if a presidential candidate did not have some sort of social media footprint.

Garrett Graff, editor of Politico Magazine, laid out an analysis of the 2008 presidential campaign in the new digital era in his book, The First Campaign, and wrote back then that “The candidate who best understands that the internet isn’t an end to itself but merely a means to an end—a chance to pull people in and get them involved in the political process—will triumph.” Today, one could liken this to politics in general and not necessarily to particular candidates. People want a reason to care, and the speedy news coverage they get at the click of a mouse or their iPhone, as well as instant social media interaction with politicians, certainly eggs on that engagement.

Jeb Bush knows this reality and used Facebook to announce the possibility he would run this past December. Hillary Clinton was spotted participating in a selfie with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West during her campaigning, which was retweeted and shared numerous times. Whether or not people were happy about any of this is not the point. The Facebook comments, tweets, blog commentaries, and TV coverage that follow just prove how the Internet and cable coverage feed into one another and help build that engagement in news, sensational or not, leading to a heavily watched prime-time debate last week.

With a menu offering diverse options for consuming and sharing news, audiences still crave that feeling of unity among their peers and fellow Americans. While no one can deny that sports and popular programming shows often provide that unifying factor, it’s hard to beat a presidential campaign. Cable television offers that common platform for people to watch debates, and the digital arena opens its doors for people to congregate and converse about the candidates’ quirks and responses as the event unfolds before them. The most recent Republican debate proves that people will tune in for these types of events, and they will also have something to say about them, because the space now allows for it and everyone wants their voices heard.