Election Night Ratings Come Close to 2008 Record

While the nation’s votes were being counted, more than 66 million viewers were watching news coverage on a baker’s dozen of television channels, according to estimates released by Nielsen.

Viewership came close to matching the modern-day election night ratings record set back in 2008, when 71.5 million viewers watched from 8 to 11 p.m. This year, about 66.8 million viewers were watching on one of the 13 networks with news coverage counted by Nielsen. Hourly ratings were not immediately available for the broadcast networks, so it was impossible to say how many viewers stayed awake for President Obama’s victory speech at 1:45 a.m. But the hourly ratings for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC showed a stark difference in viewer behavior. Fox News had 10.1 million viewers in the 11 p.m. hour when it named Mr. Obama the winner of the election, but just 2.7 million viewers in the 1 a.m. hour when Mr. Obama spoke. CNN, on the other hand, had 10.7 million viewers at 11 p.m., and still had 8.2 million at 1 a.m., indicating a desire to stay up for the president’s speech.