57 million watched debate, St.Louis had highest viewership rate, Pheonix had lowest rate!LOL!

[darius15]

Preliminary Nielsen data from 55 cities where it operates so-called "people meters," set-top boxes that monitor television viewing, shows that a third of all TV sets were tuned into Friday night's debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. Nielsen won't release final data until Monday, but if the trend from the 55 metered markets holds steady, it would mean about 57 million people watched the debate.

The city with the highest percentage of viewers was St. Louis, where 52 percent of the TVs were tuned to the debate, reflecting either an inordinate civic-mindedness or a complete lack of actual lives, take your pick. The lowest was Phoenix, with only about 24 percent, which might mean that they're confident their guy McCain has already won, or that they're sick of him, take your pick again. South Florida was somewhere in the middle, with about 37 percent of the TVs on the debate.

Here's the full list:

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/ratings1.pdf

[Motown_Johnny]

1. McCain attacked corn based ethanol subsidies while St. Louis had the highest viewership rate?

Interesting...


As I understand it, Missouri was nearly a toss up state.. and they grow lots of corn there too.

[smoochpooch]

2. St. Louis hosts the VP debate on Thursday, that's why they tuned in. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

4. Good, maybe Biden can get Palin to attack corn based ethanol subsidies too.

Missouri can be back in play if they keep hitting on this, and it should help in rural Ohio too.

[rebel with a cause]

6. St Louis is also Busch country.

Don't know how the sell out is setting there about now, and how they are feeling about the mccains that profited from it.

[SheilaT]

3. And that just counts

TVs, not the number of people watching each one. I don't own a TV myself, but I watched at a friend's place, with six others. Plus all the very large gatherings elsewhere. I wonder how many people actually watched the debate.

[GarbagemanLB]

5. Why the hell would they put a debate on a Friday night? What idiots scheduled that?

I'm sure many more people will watch clips online.

[rebel with a cause]

7. Friday's worked for the people who had debate watching parties.

There were two held here, one at a home and one at a restaurant (rented out the patio). I did not attend either so I have no idea how many people attended, but it the turnout was good, then Friday's were the perfect time to have them. Workers and students don't have to worry about getting ready for their job/classes the next day. :shrug: