NEW YORK — Television viewers were more interested in watching a town hall meeting with Donald Trump than they were in seeing the first head-to-head discussion between Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, who are both contesting the Republican nomination for president.
According to the Nielsen organization, the live town hall meeting that was broadcast on Fox News Channel during prime time on Wednesday was viewed by 4.3 million viewers.
According to Nielsen, the CNN debate, which was broadcast live at the same time, was seen by little less than 2.6 million people.
Fox News said that the Trump team insisted that the town hall meet directly on television opposite CNN's debate that was scheduled to take place at nine o'clock Eastern time
This was a requirement for the former president's presence. Donald Trump has not taken part in any of the official debates that have been held for the Republican presidential contenders in 2024.
Both of these events took place in Des Moines, Iowa, in the days leading up to the Iowa presidential caucuses that were held on Monday.
Fox said that replays of Trump's town hall meeting were broadcast at midnight Eastern time and in the middle of the night, which resulted in an extra 1.4 million viewers watching the event.
It was not surprising that Fox News won the ratings competition on Wednesday because it consistently gets a higher number of viewers than CNN. A number of public opinion surveys have shown that the former president has routinely defeated his Republican opponents by significant percentages.