UPDATED: Thursday's highly anticipated face-off between Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Delaware senator Joe Biden was the most-watched vp debate of all time.Last night's event was seen by nearly 70 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That's the most-viewed debate -- presidential or vp -- since at least the second round between Bill Clinton, Ross Perot and George Bush in 1992.
Thursday's debate was...
-- 33% higher than Friday's top-of-the-ticket debate between John McCain and Barack Obama (52.4 million).
-- 61% higher than the 2004 vp debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards (43.6 million).
-- 23% higher than the 1984 match up between George Bush and Geraldine Ferrarro (56.7 million), the former title-holder for the most-watched vp debate.
The Biden-Palin summit was expected to overthrow Friday's presidential debate in viewers due to questions about Palin's readiness and because the vp match was held on a Thursday -- television's most-watched night of the week. But this ratings blowout exceeds industry expectations. The audience response puts the election back onto the historic and record-breaking ratings territory that characterized the convention coverage.
The Nielsen measurement includes viewers watching the debate live on 11 networks -- NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS, CNN, Fox News, CSPAN, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and Telefutura.
ABC drew the largest debate audience with 13.1 million viewers. Among broadcast networks, ABC was followed by NBC (12.8 million), CBS (11.1 million) and Fox (4.5 million).
On cable, Fox News led with 11.1 million -- the most-watched telecast in the network's 12-year history. CNN drew 10.7 million, the channel's third most-watched telecast ever. MSNBC had 4.4 million. In addition, PBS projects 3.5 million viewers watched its coverage.
Friday night may have been the most-watched debate since Reagan vs. Carter (80.6 million). The total from last night is 69,989,000 viewers. Normally that's rounded to 70 million, but since a 1992 debate is listed as 69.9 million and Nielsen said the exact total is not readily available, the measurement company is using the more conservative 69.9 number in its official vp debate announcement.