It appears as though the approximately eleventy billion GOP primary debates isn't putting a damper on voters' enthusiasm to actually watch. Last night, 18 million people tuned in to CNN/Salem's second GOP debate, making it the third most-watched debate ever. The first and second most-watched debates were Fox's first debate and CNN's first debate, respectively.
According to Nielsen Fast National ratings data, the CNN Facebook GOP debate became the second most watched program in network history with 18M total viewers. The first most watched CNN program? The network’s first Republican debate in September. On average, 5.6M viewers in the coveted A25-54 demographic tuned in throughout the broadcast.
As for the undercard debate, it garnered 5.7M total viewers and averaged 1.4M in the 25-54 demo.
I'm actually surprised by this. I would have assumed by now that people had a firm grasp on the candidates, or would be too sick of them to care to tune into yet another debate before primary season begins. Apparently, I was wrong.