By Charlene Weisler
Viewers are interested in what the Democratic candidates for President have to say. At least that is what the out-of-home viewership data shows. According to Tunity, the performances of the two recent Democratic debates, which aired at the end of July, reached millions of viewers and improved over the strong performances of the first debates, which took place at the end of June.
Gains from June Debates to July Debates OOH
Tunity reported that the first set of Democratic Presidential debates (in Miami), which aired across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo on June 26 and 27, averaged a combined 1.6MM and 2.1MM OOH viewers, respectively. The second set of debates, which aired on CNN on July 30 and 31 in Detroit, gained +18.75% on night one and +9.5% on night two, averaging 1.9 million and 2.3 million viewers, respectively.
The opportunity to view in home on three networks in June compared to one network in July resulted in an interesting in-home versus out-of-home comparison. Nielsen reported that in-home viewing of the July debates were lower than in June. However, it was noted that the first July debate out-rated “America’s Got Talent” on NBC (averaging 7.9 million TV viewers) and the season finale of “The Bachelorette” on ABC, (averaging 7.4 million) in home.
Daypart and Demographic Performances
The July debates boosted CNN’s average prime OOH daypart performance. CNN’s 8-11 PM OOH average for July 1-28 was 129,720. Both debates skewed heavily male 25-54 in the out of home markets. On night one, the OOH viewership was 50% A25-54 and skewed 68% male and 32% female. On night two, the viewership was 45% A25-54 and skewed 69% male and 31% female.
The July debates were hosted live from the Fox Theatre in Detroit and moderated by Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Don Lemon. Over the two nights, CNN’s Democratic debates ranked #1 out of all OOH programs. The bulk of the OOH viewership for both nights occurred in gyms, restaurants and bars with 42% and 44%, respectively.
