VP debate hooks viewers

Ratings higher here than D.C.

By Mark Washburn - The Charlotte Observer

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte had one of the highest ratings in the nation for Thursday’s vice presidential debate — even higher than Washington, D.C.

Of the 55 metropolitan areas in the country where the Nielsen Co. captures and reports ratings daily — usually 56, but the Houston market is still recovering from Hurricane Ike — Charlotte ranked No. 11 and Washington No. 13. Nielsen estimates that 51.6 percent of all households in the Charlotte region were tuned in to the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, which was carried on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS affiliates. Nielsen’s overnights did not measure cable viewership.

Charlotte’s local rating even exceeds the 49.7 percent household rating the Carolina Panthers got in the 2004 Super Bowl, though that broadcast was carried only on the CBS affiliate, WBTV.

Baltimore, St. Louis and Boston were the cities where the debate got its highest ratings. In the Carolinas, Raleigh ranked No. 19 at 49.3 percent, Greensboro No. 22 with 48 percent and Greenville-Spartanburg No. 34 at 44.1 percent.

Nielsen said the lowest rating came in Los Angeles, where 34.4 percent of households tuned in. Nationally, the household average was 45 percent.