CBSN Caps Most Watched Week With More Than 5 Million Streams and Draws More Than 2 Million Streams During Debate Coverage

CBS News’ Republican Debate, the last before the key South Carolina primary, was the most watched (13.51m viewers) and highest rated debate in adults 25-54 (3.0) of 2016, according to Nielsen time adjusted live plus same day fast national ratings for Feb. 13, 2016. The CBS News debate was Saturday’s #1 primetime broadcast.

The CBS News debate reached its peak audience between 10:00-10:30 PM, ET, with 14.63m viewers.

CBSN, CBS News' 24/7 digital streaming news service, capped its most watched week ever on Saturday with 5.1 million streams across platforms. During its coverage of the debate, CBSN drew more than 2 million streams across platforms. Viewers spent more than 41 minutes each on average watching CBSN across devices on Saturday, an increase of 23% from the CBS News Democratic debate on Nov. 14, 2015. CBSN offered a special stream of the GOP presidential debate, enhanced with key information on-screen including real-time Google Trends data and a curated Twitter stream. CBSN also featured pre-debate coverage beginning at 6:00 PM, ET and post-debate coverage at 11:00 PM, ET, anchored by CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes. 

The debate was broadcast live from the Peace Center in Greenville, S.C., on the CBS Television Network and across all CBS News platforms. FACE THE NATIONAnchor and CBS News Political Director, John Dickerson, was the principal moderator and was joined by panelists CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett and The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel to question candidates Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.), Dr. Ben Carson and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio). CBS News’ collaboration with Google provided trend information to enhance coverage of the debate.

For more of CBS News’ extensive political coverage clickhereor watch CBSN at anytime, from anywhere, by clicking here.

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