CNN’s Harris-Walz interview comes in at just under 6 million viewers

CNN’s exclusive interview with Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz, the first broadcast sit-down with the two since the ticket was announced, drew 5.99 million viewers.

The initial figure of just under 6 million, reported by The Hollywood Reporter, is an initial estimate from Nielsen and is likely to go up at least a bit once additional data comes in.

The interview, which ran 45 minutes and aired in the 9 p.m. eastern hour Aug. 29, 2024, had been taped a few days earlier.

The interview outperformed both Fox and MSNBC, which had 2.58 million and 1.31 million viewers, respectively, during the same hour.

Aside from CNN’s airing of the debate between President Joe Biden, who was running for president at the time, and Donald Trump, the interview scored the highest evening ratings for CNN since Jan. 20, 2021, when Biden was inaugurated. 

CNN recorded around 9.5 million viewers on its flagship linear feed of the June 27, 2024, debate. Over 51 million people watched it across 16 networks and streaming.

The 5.99 million figure above does not include streaming and the Aug. 29 interview was not simulcast on other networks.

It’s worth noting that, once the data settles it’s likely that some 3 million more viewers tuned in to watch the debate than watched the Harris-Walz interview.

Advertisement

That’s a significant number of viewers and could be attributed to a variety of factors, including that the interview was taped and not as likely to generate off-the-cuff moments as the matchup between Trump and Biden did.