Philadelphia and Pittsburgh score highest watch ratings for the Harris-Trump presidential debate in the U.S.

With the first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump happening in Philadelphia, it only makes sense that Philadelphians tuned into their TV sets in high numbers on Tuesday night. So much so that the city has one of the highest rankings in the country when it comes to debate viewership on TV.

According to Nielsen, 67.1 million viewers across the country tuned into ABC’s broadcast of the first debate between the two candidates, since Harris received the Democratic Party’s nomination after President Joe Biden stepped back from the race. That’s 15 million more people who watched Tuesday night’s debate than Trump’s debate with Biden in June.

Michael Mulvihill, a television insights and analytics executive for Fox, released early Nielsen ratings data suggesting that Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Palm Beach, Fla., were the metropolitan areas with the highest number of viewers watching Tuesday’s debate.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh received a 43.4 and 44.2 Nielsen rating, respectively. This means that almost half of the possible viewing audiences in those metro areas were tuned into the debate on television.

The debate aired live across 17 networks, from 9 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. However, these ratings don’t account for the potential millions of viewers who tuned in through online streaming platforms like YouTube or social media.

Viewers ages 18 to 34 were the least likely to watch the debate on television with less than 6.5 million viewers, whereas more than half of all TV debate watchers were 55 or older.

A couple of factors could’ve come into play for Philadelphia’s high ratings. The fact that the debate took place in the city’s National Constitution Center may have enticed Philadelphians to tune in for hometown pride. But more importantly, what channel the debate aired on played a crucial role, said longtime political consultant and TV advertisement salesperson, Neil Oxman, of the Philadelphia-based the Campaign Group.

“In terms of the Top 20 markets in the U.S., the ABC affiliate in the Philadelphia market, 6abc, has dominated this market like literally no other TV station in the country,” Oxman said. “When you have that many people watching ABC nationally, where 19 million viewers are watching the debate on ABC — by the way, nobody does 19 million viewers anymore — Philly’s 6abc is just going to score really big.”

6abc reports that more than 825,000 people in the Philadelphia metro area tuned to ABC/WPVI to watch the presidential debate.

Last year, 93 out of the Top 100 shows on TV in the US were football games with the Super Bowl raking in more than 115 million viewers. Only a few primetime TV programs outside of sports get these viewership highs, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with its 22 million viewers and the Academy Awards, which drew 19 million viewers in 2023.

Locally, Jim Gardner’s 6abc evening and nightly news programs captured nearly 10% to 15% of the region’s eyeballs during his prime, said Oxman. Today that percentage is closer to 5%, he added.