Record number of viewers watched the presidential debate

The first presidential debate of the 2016 election cycle was the most-watched debate ever, with 80.9 million people tuning in to see Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton go head to head. Clinton and Trump's first presidential showdown topped the second-most viewed debate in U.S. history, between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980, by 300,000 viewers.

The debate was especially accessible for viewers this year as it was shown on every major news network, in addition to being streamed on Facebook and YouTube. By comparison, the first debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama in 2012 garnered only 67 million viewers on average. And while some analysts had expected viewership to drop after the first hour of the debate, Nielsen data showed early signs of viewers sticking around to watch the whole thing.

The official Nielsen number tallies only traditional TV viewers, disregarding online streaming or group-watching events, so likely many more than 80.9 million people actually watched the debate. Still, Monday's record falls short of some early expectations the debate would attract 100 million or more viewers, which would have been comparable to Super Bowl 50.

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