James Comey's testimony was must-see TV for a wide swath of the country, but the ratings weren't off the charts.
Almost 20 million television viewers tuned in Thursday to watch former FBI Director James Comey testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his relationship with President Trump, the Nielsen ratings service said Friday.
The hearing was primarily watched by viewers ages 55 and up, per Nielsen's reporting. Eastern time. It does not count people who watched at viewing parties at bars and restaurants or through online streaming on computers and digital devices.
Using the 12:45 p.m. cutoff only causes minimal changes to the cable numbers, with the most interesting side effect being that MSNBC just barely outdrew its parent network by bringing in 2.74 million viewers.
A healthy tune-in was inevitable, and initial Nielsen Media returns for the nearly-three-hour affair show an incredible lift in eyeballs for the broadcasters and news networks covering the Comey.
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The number of people who tuned in for Comey's testimony almost matched the average number of viewers for each game of the 2017 NBA Finals.
Cable news networks CNN, Fox News and MSNBC typically broadcast congressional hearings. Trump's inauguration in January drew an audience of almost 31 million. Only 1.3M 18-34-year-olds tuned in.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, ABC garnered the highest total number of viewers at almost 3.3 million, followed by CNN with 3.05 million viewers.
These averages understate the total audience for Comey's remarks, however, because some people watched part of the hearing but not the whole thing.
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