More than 20 million American households watched Tuesday evening’s vice presidential debate on a connected TV device that was measured by Samba TV, the technology firm revealed this week.
The figure is about half of the 43.2 million people who tuned in to watch some or all of the debate on broadcast and cable television, according to data from competing measurement firm Nielsen, but still ranks among the most-watched live programs on traditional and streaming television this year based on data provided by both companies.
Samba TV collects viewership data from connected TV platforms on an opt-in basis. In the United States, TVs made by Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Magnavox, Toshiba, JVC and TCL are among those with Samba’s measurement software built-in, and viewers are asked to opt-in to measurement when they set their TVs up.
According to Samba TV, around 8.1 million fewer households watched Tuesday evening’s debate between Senator J. D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz compared to a September debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Tuesday vice presidential debate was produced and distributed by CBS News, while rival ABC News produced and distributed the September presidential debate. Both networks made their events available to other broadcasters through simulcast feeds.
Among swing states, viewers in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin over-indexed in terms of viewership of the vice presidential debate, indicating the average audience in each state was larger than the U.S. as a whole. Households in the swing states of Georgia and North Carolina were less likely than the average U.S. household to watch the debate, while viewership in Pennsylvania was on par with the national average, Samba TV said.
Broken down by age, older Americans were more likely than younger Americans to be tuned in to Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, according to Samba TV. Those over the age of 65 over-indexed the national average, while Millennial and Gen Z viewers under-indexed, Samba TV noted.
“The VP debate showed remarkable engagement and viewership across all platforms,” Ashwin Navin, the co-Founder and CEO of Samba TV, said in a statement. “America was eager to understand two relatively unknown political figures as they independently took the national stage for the first time, providing both campaigns a vital opportunity to connect with the country.”
Navin characterized the CBS News debate as a “critical moment for each presidential campaign” because it was the last scheduled event of its kind involving the leading candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties. While Harris and Walz have indicated their willingness to participate in future debates, Trump has said he will not appear at future debates. Harris and Trump are scheduled to appear at separate town hall-style interviews broadcast by Univision later this month.
The CBS News debate was the final opportunity for the candidates “to differentiate themselves by leveraging earned media on linear, streaming, and digital platforms where audiences are highly engaged daily,” Navin said.
Viewership data released by Nielsen on Wednesday indicated the majority of people who tuned in to the debate watched on broadcast or cable television, according to their metrics. Around 9.6 million people watched some or all of the debate on CBS itself, while nearly 8 million watched the simulcast on Fox News.
