Early ratings estimates indicate that NBC led the ratings among broadcast networks for coverage of the 2012 Election – Photo: NBC
Early ratings for the 2012 election indicate that NBC and CNN won the popular vote on Tuesday night with viewers who tuned in to watch ongoing coverage.
Initial Nielsen numbers show that CNN led all cable networks in election coverage with 8.8 million viewers over a seven hour period between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Tuesday night during the race between President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney.
On the mainstream broadcast side of the 2012 election fence, NBC beat competing networks with 12.6 million viewers in the primetime hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m..
Although the official Nielsen ratings numbers haven’t been released, it’s being reported that Fox News managed to draw am estimated 8.7 million viewers while MSNBC came in third place with just over 4.6 million viewers.
Behind NBC was ABC with 11.1 million, CBS with 8.4 million and Fox in fourth place with 5 million viewers.
Although ABC led the way in the 2008 election between Barack Obama and John McCain, NBC rebounded for 2012.
Still, broadcast ratings for the 2012 election were down by 1 million viewers as compared to 2008.