Former Vice President Joe Biden came out ahead in Thursday's duel of town halls with President Donald Trump — at least in terms of TV ratings.
According to The Associated Press, Biden garnered 14.1 million viewers on ABC between 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET on Thursday night. During that same time span, Trump drew a total of 13.5 million viewers during his hour-long event on NBC.
These numbers include ratings for both network and cable audiences, who could have watched the president's event on CNBC or MSNBC. Biden's event was only broadcast on ABC on TV.
Trump and Biden were originally slated to appear together for a town hall-style debate. However, the Commission on Presidential Debates said earlier this month that the event would take place virtually following Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis. Trump then dropped out, saying he wouldn't "waste his time" with a virtual debate.
Biden then scheduled his town hall event with ABC News. It wasn't until Wednesday that NBC News announced Trump would hold his own town hall at the same time as Biden.
