Thursday’s GOP debate on Fox News was the highest-rated debate of 2016 and the fourth-highest-rated primary debate on record.
The two-hour debate averaged a 11.6 household rating in Nielsen’s metered markets — a higher rating than practically everything else on television this week.
Household ratings are an indication of how many American homes tuned in. Actual viewership numbers will be released later on Friday.
The Donald Trump ratings bump was in full effect on Thursday.
For perspective: Fox’s January 28 debate — the one Trump snubbed — had an 8.4 household rating.
Several GOP match-ups have been held since, and each of them has been higher rated than the one before.
Last week’s Republican debate on CNN and Telemundo had a 9.9 combined rating.
The average audience for that debate was 14.5 million. Fox’s average audience will be somewhere around 17 million.
This season’s debates, fueled by Trump, have smashed prior viewership records, resetting expectations for how well debates will rate.
Fox’s very first debate of the season, featuring Trump’s now-famous clash with co-moderator Megyn Kelly on August 6, 2015, had an astonishingly high 15.9 rating. It remains No. 1 on the overall debate ratings ranker.
The No. 2 debate of the season remains CNN’s September 16 debate (which had a 14.7 household rating) and No. 3 remains CNN’s December 15 debate (which had a 12.2 rating).
But Thursday’s highly-anticipated face-off between Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich ranks No. 4 overall.
The Nielsen ratings only count people who watched at home via TV. Fox News made a live stream of the event freely available via the web as well.
