FIRST AUDIENCE MEASURE FOR DEM DEBATE – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:   First indications are that the size of the CNN audience for last night's Democratic debate was larger than anticipated, but probably well below the audience for the first GOP debate.  From money.cnn.com:

Final ratings won't come in until later in the day. But preliminary Nielsen ratings indicate that CNN's Tuesday night debate was the highest-rated Democratic debate ever.

The 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. hours averaged an 11.2 household rating, meaning that 11% of all American homes with TVs were tuned in.

The previous Democratic debate record was set in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama squared off in prime time on ABC. That debate had an 8.9 household rating and 10.7 million total viewers.

The total viewer number for Tuesday's matchup will be released on Wednesday afternoon. It will be much lower than both recent Republican debates, but the early data suggests there was still a surprising surge of interest in Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb's first time together on stage.

Heading into Tuesday night, there was unanimous agreement that the total audience would be lower than the 25 million who tuned in for Fox's Republican debate on August 6. That debate -- fueled by Donald Trump -- shattered all previous primary debate records.

COMMENT:  Or, maybe viewers find the Republicans much more interesting. 

October 14, 2015