CBSN: 19M Election Streams, 11M Viewers

CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 digital streaming news service featuring live, anchored coverage, said it set new viewership records in every category on Tuesday, Nov. 8, for its coverage of Election Day.

CBSN drew a record 19.1 million streams and 11.1 million unique viewers from midnight ET on Nov. 8 through 4 a.m. on Nov. 9, beating prior records of 2.98 million streams and 1.4 million unique viewers set on Monday, Sept. 26, for coverage of the first presidential debate. CBSN also set a new hourly viewership record, drawing 1.6 million streams from 11 p.m. to midnight ET.

CBS said that “CBSN set a new quarterly viewership record in the third quarter of 2016 with more than 60 million streams, and a new monthly viewership record in October with 27.2 million streams. Five of CBSN’s top-10 days occurred during September and October. CBSN has consistently attracted viewers in key younger demos and the average age of CBSN viewers is 38.”

CBSNews.com also set a record on Nov. 8 with 31 million visits, more than five times the prior record, the company said.

“We saw incredibly strong viewership numbers across mobile, connected TV and desktop platforms for our Election Day coverage, proving that CBSN delivered the news when and where people needed it on a critical day,” said Christy Tanner, SVP-GM of CBS News Digital.

“We are proud that our coverage stood apart for so many viewers on a day when there were more options than ever to watch live results and analysis,” said Nancy Lane, senior executive producer, CBS News Digital.

CBSN’s around-the-clock coverage of Election Day, available for free across all leading digital platforms, was led by CBSN anchor Josh Elliott and CBS News correspondents Vladimir Duthiers and Reena Ninan. CBSN featured the network’s Campaign 2016: Election Night coverage from 7 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. ET and offered additional ongoing live coverage and post-election analysis through Wednesday morning.