On Tuesday night, 63.2 million U.S. viewers watched the second presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.
The TV audience for the senators’ second meeting easily surpassed that of their first debate, which drew an audience of 52.4 million on Friday, Sept. 26.
During the previous presidential campaign, 46.7 million viewers tuned in for President Bush and John Kerry’s second debate on Oct. 8, 2004. 
See more historical debate ratings.

CBS’s “NCIS” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 7, 2008, drawing an audience of almost 16.3 million average viewers.
ABC’s special presentation of “Dancing With The Stars” claimed second place, with almost 15.1 million viewers.  ABC’s post-debate analysis of the second McCain/Obama presidential debate rounded out the top three, with just over 9.9 million viewers.
Post-debate coverage on NBC, CBS, and FOX also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
16,288,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)-10/07/2008
ABC
15,065,000

3
VOTE2008:ANALYSIS-TUE(S)-10/07/2008
ABC
9,917,000

4
DECISION ‘08:PRES ANALYS2(S)-10/07/2008
NBC
8,349,000

5
CAMPAIGN ‘08-DEBATE ANL-2(S)-10/07/2008
CBS
7,951,000

6
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,265,000

7
HOUSE
FOX
6,365,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,634,000

9
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL TUE
UNI
4,637,000

10
FOX NEWS: …

The combined overall household rating for Tuesday night’s second presidential debate, in 55 of the 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 42.1.
In comparison, the first debate between Senators McCain and Obama received a much lower household rating (34.7) in the top 55 local TV markets.  Last week’s V.P. debate received a 45.0 household rating in the top 55 markets.
One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.
The Nashville market, where the debate was held, had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 59.2, while the Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, California market had …

If book sales were electoral votes, the U.S. presidential election would hardly be a close contest.
So far in 2008, four books published by Sen. Barack Obama between 2004 and fall 2008 have sold a combined 912,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. 
In comparison, Sen. John McCain’s five titles, published between 1999 and summer 2008, have sold a total of 116,000 copies — almost 800,000 copies less than Obama.
Between January and September 21, 2008, McCain’s top selling book, “Faith of My Fathers,” sold 73,000 copies in hardcover, paperback, and audio editions. 
Obama’s top …

ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Monday, October 6, 2008.
CBS’s “Two and a Half Men,” “CSI: Miami,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and “Worst Week” dominated the next five slots in Nielsen’s ranking.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,592,000

2
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,073,000

3
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
13,884,000

4
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
9,394,000

5
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
8,977,000

6
WORST WEEK
CBS
8,848,000

7
BOSTON LEGAL
ABC
8,746,000

8
HEROES
NBC
8,198,000

9
CHUCK
NBC
5,832,000

10
TERMINATOR: SRH CNR CHRON
FOX
5,726,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 6, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of just over 15.3 million viewers, while CBS took …

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,883,000

2
NCIS
CBS
17,470,000

3
60 MINUTES
CBS
16,648,000

4
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,685,000

5
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
15,491,000

6
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,484,000

7
CSI: NY
CBS
14,878,000

8
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,780,000

9
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
14,345,000

10
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
NBC
14,207,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 29, 2008 – October 5, 2008).

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NFL REGULAR SEASON L (RAVENS/STEELERS)
ESPN
MONDAY
11,783,000

2
VP DEBATE(S)-10/02/2008
FOXNC
THURSDAY
11,098,000

3
SR/VICE PRES DEBATE 2008(S)-10/02/2008
CNN
THURSDAY
10,685,000

4
ON THE RECORD W/GRETA
FOXNC
THURSDAY
9,801,000

5
ANDERSON COOPER 360
CNN
THURSDAY
7,961,000

6
VP DEBATE CVG(S)-10/02/2008
FOXNC
THURSDAY
7,372,000

7
VP DEBATE ANALYSIS(S)-10/02/2008
FOXNC
THURSDAY
6,977,000

8
MLB DIVISION SERIES (ANGELS-RED SOX 3)
TBSC
SUNDAY
6,199,000

9
THE OREILLY FACTOR
FOXNC
THURSDAY
5,624,000

10
MLB DIVISION SERIES (DODGERS-CUBS 1)
TBSC
WEDNESDAY
5,381,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 29, 2008 – October 5, 2008).

“Hockey moms” — famously invoked by Gov. Sarah Palin in her V.P. campaign speeches — may also have a passion for politics.
According to a Nielsen analysis released Tuesday, “hockey moms” — defined as women ages 25 to 54 who live in homes with children and who watched at least six minutes of the most recent Stanley Cup Finals on NBC – were more likely than average moms to watch the first two debates of the 2008 election.
Last Thursday, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin’s V.P. debate drew 23.8% of all mothers (ages …

During the vice presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin last week, CBS and Nielsen tracked real-time reactions to the candidates from a panel of uncommitted, registered voters who allowed CBS and Nielsen to capture their real-time reactions to the V.P. debate. However, CBS notes that in many cases, the panelists were “leaning” towards the Obama-Biden ticket.
Watch CBS’s analysis.

As they watched the debate, panel members turned a dial between 0 and 100 to indicate their reactions to the candidates’ discussion. 100 indicates a “very positive” response, 0 …

Sixty-one percent of all U.S. households watched at least one of the two 2008 election debates aired so far, according to a new analysis released Monday by Nielsen.
On average, 41% of all homes watched the V.P. debate last Thursday — up one-third from the first presidential debate the previous Friday night, which reached an average of 31% of all households.
Of all households, 39% watched neither debate, while 30.3% tuned in to both.  11.2% of all homes tuned in to the presidential debate only, and 19.5% tuned in to just the V.P. debate.