The television ratings for the first public Donald Trump impeachment hearings are in and the numbers are yuuuuuuuuge. The impeachment hearings were billed as must-see TV and a number of Americans appear to have bought into the narrative because millions of viewers tuned in to networks like FOX News, MSNBC and ABC.
According to Variety, the first day of impeachment hearings brought in a whopping 13 million viewers among all platforms.
FOX News registered the highest viewership with an average of 2.9 million viewers from 10:00 a.m. when the hearings started until 3:30 p.m. ET, while MSNBC averaged 2.7 million. ABC totaled 2 million viewers and led the way among standard networks like CBS and NBC which stopped their regular daytime schedule to cover the hearings.
From the report:
BC also performed strongest of any of the broadcast and news networks in the key 25-54 demographic, averaging 496,000 viewers. Fox News came narrowly beat NBC into second place with an average of 442,000 to the Peacock’s 440,000. CNN wasn’t far behind with 428,000, leaving CBS and MSNBC trailing in the demographic with averages of 384,000 and 365,000 viewers respectively.
Day 1 of the hearings featured testimony from Bill Taylor, the State Department’s Chargé d’Affaires Ad Interim in Ukraine; and George Kent, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs.
On Friday, November 15, the House will call on Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, to the stand.
After a break for the weekend, the House Select Committee on Intelligence will call on 8 additional witnesses including National Security Council staffer Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, State Department official advising the vice president’s office Jennifer Williams, former US special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker, US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, Defense Department official Laura Cooper, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, and former National Security Council staffer Fiona Hill.
Get your popcorn ready.
