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 …

“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. 

With the U.S. financial crisis hanging in the balance, the first debate between Barack Obama and John McCain – originally scheduled for Friday — has taken on unusual importance.  But, how will this first presidential duel of the 2008 election compare with the most-watched debates of the last half-century?
Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s October 28, 1980 debate claimed the largest television audience — 80.6 million viewers — since 1976, the first year that Nielsen collected TV viewership data for presidential debates. 
George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot’s October 15, 1992 debate (69.9 …

On Tuesday night, 69.9 million viewers tuned in to watch the sole vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.
The Biden-Palin matchup set a new V.P. debate TV audience record, beating the previous high of 56.7 million viewers set by the debate between Rep. Geraldine Ferraro and then-V.P. George H.W. Bush in 1984*. 
Biden and Palin’s debate also surpassed the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, which drew an audience of 52.4 million last Friday night.
During the last presidential election in 2004, the vice presidential debate between V.P. Dick Cheney and Sen. …

The combined overall household rating for Thursday night’s vice presidential debate, in 55 of the 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 45.0.
One rating point equals 1% of the total TV audience in a given market.
The Baltimore market had the largest TV audience, with a household rating of 59.1, while the Los Angeles market had the lowest household rating: 34.4.

CBS’s “Survivor: Gabon” beat out post-debate analyses of the vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden to claim the slot as the most-watched primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Thursday, October 2, 2008.  Almost 13.1 million average viewers tuned in to watch the second episode of the new “Survivor” season.
Post-debate coverage on ABC and NBC rounded out the top three, with 9.778 million and 9.777 million average viewers, respectively.
CBS and FOX’s post-debate coverage also made the top ten, drawing almost 8 million and just over 4 million average viewers, …