Hard Numbers: 'Good Morning America' Enters Top 5 at ABC and Republican Primary Debate Sets a New Record

Tony Dokoupil, Gayle King, Nate Burleson - CBS This Morning / CBS

News (Daily – Broadcast): CBS Mornings steps on the scene for the month of August jumping to the No. 12 spot; increasing seven spots from last month and amassing 2.233 million viewers. Good Morning America seems to be having a great month; the broadcast network has entered the Top 5 ranking at ABC coming in at No. 5 with an average P2+ household 3.101 million viewers. NBC News Daily drops to the No. 18 spot on the NBC network this month despite a slight increase this month of 400,000 viewers, totaling out to a P2+ household of 1.095 million viewers this month. NBC Nightly News brought in 6.045 million viewers, a loss of 860,000 viewers for the month of August. The Today Show drops to the No. 9 spot on NBC coming in with an average of 2.620 million viewers.

20/20 - ABC

News (Weekend – Broadcast): 20/20 is closing in on the Top 5 rankings at NBC, jumping from its previous No. 13 spot to come in at No. 6. The weekend series averaged a P2+ household of 1.912 million viewers. Dateline starts off slow coming in at No. 12 for the NBC network with an average of 2.023 million viewers.

ALEX WAGNER TONIGHT - MSNBC

News & Politics (Daily – Cable): Alex Wagner Tonight is stagnant at the No. 3 spot on MSNBC with 1.771 million viewers garnered, a 469,000-viewer increase compared to last month. The ReidOut (with Joy Reid) is following the same stagnant trajectory, stalling at the No. 7 spot at MSNBC; 425,000 viewers gained, and the P2+ average is 1.510 million for August. The Faulkner Focus drops down to No. 11 for Fox News. In August, Faulkner averaged 1.369 million viewers, losing 8,000 viewers. Making Money with Charles Payne on the Fox Business channel averaged 152,000 viewers for the month of August. The Chris Salcedo Show on NewsMax comes in at No. 7 with an average P2+ household of 272,000 viewers. Outnumbered revives itself after dropping to No. 12 with a jump to No. No.7 on Fox News; the P2+ household average was 1.449 million viewers for August with a 14,000 viewership decrease since July.

Mehdi hasan - Mehdi Hasan Show / MSNBC

News & Politics (Weekend – Cable): American Voices with Alicia Menendez takes a huge blow, dropping from the No. 12 spot at MSNBC to No. 24. Menendez pulled an average of 553,250 viewers but couldn’t manage to keep up with the competition. Ayman also took a huge blow in August dropping from No. 9 to No. 18 on MSNBC despite totaling 706,875 viewers for the month of August – a near 125,000 increase in viewers from last month. Inside Politics with Dana Bash comes back swinging, increasing viewership by 155,000 and landing in the No. 6 spot on CNN. The Katie Phang Show brought in an a P2+ average household of 552,375 viewers. Lawrence Jones Cross Country’s numbers increased by 40,250 viewers for August, with an average of 827,250 viewers on Fox News.

The Mehdi Hasan Show picked up a little speed this month accruing 653,670 viewers, a 140,670 increase in viewers for MSNBC. Politics Nation with Al Sharpton is close to falling off the charts at MSNBC, coming in at the No. 26 spot with an average P2+ household of 523,625 in August. Symone, No. 25 on MSNBC’s top-ranking shows, increased from 442,750 to 520,750 viewers, a 78,000-viewer difference. The Sunday Show with Johnathan Capehart enters the Top 20 at MSNBC with an average viewership of 589,500. Velshi takes the No. 17 spot with an average of 716,125 viewers and fellow MSNBC series Yasmin Vossoughian Reports trails behind at No. 23 with 577,250 viewers.

EVA PILGRIM, DEMARCO MORGAN, AND JENNIFER ASHTON - GMA3: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW / ABC

Talk Show: GMA3: What You Need to Know jumps to the No. 5 for talk shows on ABC, an amazing leap followed by an average P2+ household of 1.441 million viewers. The View drops down out of the Top 10 Shows on ABC to No. 13 with 2.270 million views garnered for the month of August, a 165,000 difference from July. Moving to NBC, coming in at No. 14; Today with Hoda and Jenna with 1.388 million viewers accumulated. Today 3rd Hour comes in at No. 10 with 1.822 million viewers.

MOLLY QERIM & STEPHEN A. SMITH - FIRST TAKE / ESPN

Sports: First Take seems to be taking a staggering hit this month dropping from the Top 10 to the Top 20 coming at in No. 14 on ESPN with 393,640 viewers total viewers amassed. Pardon the Interruption dropped down to the No. 13 most popular show on ESPN with an average audience viewership of 527,750.

Fox News

Republican Primary Debate: The Republican primary debate was the most watched telecast of all types of linear, digital, and streaming television. The debate averaged 12.803 million viewers with a 2.815 million viewer demographic of ages 25-54. According to Nielsen Media Research, this debate beat 70% of previous presidential primary debates (2016 and 2020). Co-moderates Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum saw a larger audience compared to pre-Donald Trump Iowa in January. On Fox News, the Republican debate became the highest-rated non-sports cable telecast of the year (total viewers), with 11.1 million viewers and 2.4 million in the 25-54 demographic, beating everything else that aired on Cable television. FBN simulcasted the debate and received 1.7 million viewers and 401,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Fox News Digital had record levels of engagement across all platforms with triple-digit increases in each category. Fox had an “average minute audience of nearly 200,000 between 9-11 PM/ET,” making it the highest day of minutes watched live stream for the network this year. The network also garnered over 20 million minutes watched with users averaging at least 30 minutes. Social media engagement regarding the debate received 694,000 social interactions, making up 27% of Wednesday night’s social engagement.