RATINGS: NBC News, MSNBC, Telemundo Draw 15.3 Million Television Viewers for Democratic Presidential Debate

NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo together drew a total of 15.3 million viewers for the first of the two-night Democratic presidential debate, beating every primary debate during the 2008 and 2012 election cycles, according to Nielsen Fast National Data. Last night's debate also attracted more than 9 million live stream viewers and was the most-watched program on television yesterday.

Kicking off the 2020 election cycle, the two-hour DNC-sanctioned debate averaged 15.3 million television viewers, with 4.3 million in Adults 25-54 and 3.7 million in Adults 18-49 across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo from 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET last night.

The debate live stream saw more than 9 million viewers and 14 million video views across all platforms, including NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, Telemundo.com, NBC News NOW on OTT devices, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Users spent an average of 40 minutes watching the debate via on-net platforms, according to Adobe Analytics.

The debate content for the day garnered more than 18 million total views across all platforms and devices. NBC Stay Tuned's coverage of the debates attracted more than 2.1 million users, 75% under the age of 25.

The Democratic debate was moderated by Lester Holt, anchor of NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC, Savannah Guthrie, TODAY co-host and NBC News chief legal correspondent, Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press and NBC News political director, Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show and José Díaz-Balart, anchor of Noticias Telemundo and NBC Nightly News Saturday.

Wednesday's debate featured the following ten candidates: Sen. Cory Booker (NJ), former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Rep. John Delaney (MD), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI), Gov. Jay Inslee (WA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN), former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (TX), Rep. Tim Ryan (OH) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA).

The second of the two-night debate will air tonight across all three networks from 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET and will feature the following ten candidates: Sen. Michael Bennet (CA), former Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (South Bend, IN), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Sen. Kamala Harris (CA), former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT), Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA), author Marianne Williamson and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.