Updated at 1:18 p.m. PT: Final Nielsen ratings confirm a town hall victory for ABC and Joe Biden, who averaged 14.1 million total viewers from 8-10 p.m. versus NBC and Donald Trump’s 13.5 million viewers watching his 8-9 p.m. event.
NBC’s broadcast channel drew 10.9 million total viewers, MSNBC added 1.8 million and CNBC chipped in with 720,000 viewers. But the simulcast was not enough to topple Biden on ABC alone.
Head-to-head in the 8 o’clock hour, Biden’s 14.3 million bested Trump’s 13.5 million.
Updated at 10:43 a.m. PT: We now have some updated Nielsen numbers for Thursday’s dueling Biden-Trump town halls, including early ratings for Trump’s on MSNBC and CNBC.