CNN Democratic debate shatters ratings record

The CNN Democratic primary debate on Tuesday evening was the most watched Democratic debate in history, reaching 15.3 million viewers. Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., 11 percent of Americans who owned TVs were tuned in to the debate.

The previous record for a Democratic primary was 10.7 million viewers in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went head-to-head on ABC. The GOP primaries earlier this summer have also smashed records and drawn in even more viewers than their Democratic counterparts: 24 million viewers tuned in to Fox's GOP debate, making it the most-watched primary debate in television history.

All those numbers pale in comparison to the presidential debates that come after the primaries, however — ratings for those typically pull in between 46 and 67 million viewers.

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