Nearly 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night’s primetime GOP debate, breaking viewership records for host network CNN.
In fact, it shattered the records – according to CNN, the previous record-holder for viewership was a Larry King Live episode from 1993 with Al Gore and Ross Perot debating NAFTA. That episode clocked in at 16.8 million viewers. For an even starker comparison, CNN’s most-watched presidential primary debate before Wednesday was a Democratic debate in 2008, which got just 8.3 million viewers.
The CNN debate didn’t quite reach the viewership for the Fox debate in August, which averaged 24 million viewers.
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Write to Tessa Berenson Rogers at tessa.Rogers@time.com