Numbers Are In: Here’s How Many People Tuned In For DeSantis-Newsom Debate

Viewership numbers are in for the lackluster debate between Governor Ron DeSantis and Governor Gavin Newsom.

In total, 4.75 million people tuned into Fox News to watch the Republican vs. Democrat Governor debate.

The debate was Sean Hannity’s highest viewership in a single telecast for the entire year.

A replay that was shown later in the night was able to garner an additional 700,000 views.

Ron DeSantis vs. Gavin Newsom showdown on Fox drew nearly 5M viewers https://t.co/Lu2FoZAJni

— POLITICO (@politico) December 2, 2023

Viewership of 5.4 million for the DeSantis debate with Newsom is significantly more than anything Trump draws for his shrinking rallies and low-energy speaking appearances.

Brilliant move by @RonDeSantis. pic.twitter.com/e7tpHSiwOB

— Cryptid Politics (pro-DeSantis) 🇺🇸🐊 (@CryptidPolitics) December 2, 2023

Per Politico:

The messy showdown between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Fox Thursday evening might not have produced much beyond renewed partisan sniping, but it managed to draw a healthy sum of 4.75 million viewers who tuned in live.

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The 90-minute debate, intended for the two prominent governors to offer competing visions for the country, was host Sean Hannity’s most viewed telecast of the year, according to a Fox News release. And approximately 700,000 also tuned in for a replay of the crowdless show later in the night.

The event saw DeSantis outline his array of conservative policies he has enacted in Florida, while Newsom generally sought to characterize DeSantis negatively and gave a full-throated defense of President Joe Biden’s administration and his reelection campaign. And DeSantis was able to get some help from Hannity, whose longtime conservative punditry showed on occasion through his guise as a neutral moderator to give the Floridian a runway to detail his accomplishments.

For the two attention-hungry governors — one of them looking for a spark to a flailing presidential campaign and the other with more national ambitions — the primetime matchup was a good opportunity to spread their respective messages. But for DeSantis, he’ll need much more than a good ratings night to make a vast gap in the polls in the presidential race, with Donald Trump polling upwards of 40-50 percentage points ahead of him.

More than 5 million viewers tuned in to FOX News' groundbreaking DeSantis-Newsom debate https://t.co/nf0cgNQW4F

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 2, 2023

Per Fox News:

More than 5 million viewers tuned in to FOX News Channel’s groundbreaking “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate” featuring Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The roughly 90-minute debate moderated by FOX News’ Sean Hannity averaged 4.75 million total viewers, including 742,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. An encore of the debate airing from 12-1:30 a.m. ET averaged an additional 706,000 viewers for a combined total of roughly 5.5 million viewers.

The post-debate show, also hosted by Hannity, averaged 3.4 million total viewers and 541,000 in the key demo.