--- title: CNBC Republican Debate Was the Least-Watched So Far description: CNBC lagged behind other debate broadcasts—but had more viewers than the World Series canonical: https://time.com/4093089/cnbc-debate-least-watched/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-29T17:55:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T23:39:26.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: CNBC Republican Debate Was the Least-Watched So Far og:description: CNBC set a network record—but lagged behind other broadcasts og:url: https://time.com/4093089/cnbc-debate-least-watched/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f36ae6dedd4ced8/69886ebee20a87b6b4a8df5b/gettyimages-494803682.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CNBC Republican Debate Was the Least-Watched So Far twitter:description: CNBC set a network record—but lagged behind other broadcasts twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f36ae6dedd4ced8/69886ebee20a87b6b4a8df5b/gettyimages-494803682.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CNBC Republican Debate Was the Least-Watched So Far > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:39 PM UTCPublished: Oct 29, 2015 5:55 PM UTC  Debate moderators John Harwood (L), Becky Quick (C) and Carl Quintanilla take the stage at the third Republican Presidential Debate hosted by CNBC, October 28, 2015 at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) Debate moderators John Harwood (L), Becky Quick (C) and Carl Quintanilla take the stage at the third Republican Presidential Debate hosted by CNBC, October 28, 2015 at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) ROBYN BECK—AFP/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Updated: Dec 13, 2023 11:39 PM UTCPublished: Oct 29, 2015 5:55 PM UTC Fewer people watched Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate than any other this campaign. The broadcast set a record for CNBC, averaging 14.0 million total viewers and proving that the GOP debate is popular television. But the third debate between Republicans fell short of the markers set by the first two—Fox News averaged 24 million viewers in August, while CNN averaged 23 million in September. More viewers, however, tuned into the CNBC debate than watch the second game of the World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals, which had about 13.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. CNBC’s previous viewership record of 3.9 million was set during the 2002 Winter Olympics, according to [CNN](http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/29/media/cnbc-republican-debate-ratings/). The debate was moderated by CNBC’s John Harwood, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla. Many of the candidates on the stage at the University of Colorado Boulder were harsh on the CNBC moderators. Texas Senator Ted Cruz lambasted them for shying away from the “substantive issues that people care about.” His comments were the most talked about moment on Twitter and Facebook. **Read More:** [Here’s Who Won the Internet During the Debate](http://time.com/4091253/republican-debate-social-media/) Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus echoed Cruz, sending a tweet after the debate condemning the broadcast. CNBC should be ashamed of how this debate was handled. [#GOPDebate](https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOPDebate?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) — Reince Priebus (@Reince) [October 29, 2015](https://twitter.com/Reince/status/659557801442848769?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4093089/cnbc-debate-least-watched/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4093089/cnbc-debate-least-watched/"},"headline":"CNBC Republican Debate Was the Least-Watched So Far","datePublished":"2015-10-29T17:55:23.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T23:39:26.000Z","description":"CNBC lagged behind other debate broadcasts—but had more viewers than the World Series","url":"https://time.com/4093089/cnbc-debate-least-watched/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","RNC","ted cruz","CNBC","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f36ae6dedd4ced8/69886ebee20a87b6b4a8df5b/gettyimages-494803682.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f36ae6dedd4ced8/69886ebee20a87b6b4a8df5b/gettyimages-494803682.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE","caption":"US-VOTE-REPUBLICANS-DEBATE","creditText":"ROBYN BECK—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4093089/cnbc-debate-least-watched/","name":"CNBC Republican Debate Was the Least-Watched So Far"}}]}] ```