Some 17.7 million people in the United States watched Thursday night’s hearing of a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Capitol Hill on television.
The Nielsen Company said that total is just shy of the 20 million viewers who watched the panel hearing on June 9, the only other of the eight sessions to be broadcast in late-night primetime.
Ten networks broadcast Thursday’s hearing live, compared to 11 for the June session. The conservative network Newsmax did not broadcast it on this occasion.
Daytime audiences averaged 11.2 million viewers, peaking at 14.3 million on June 28, when former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson appeared to testify about then-President Donald Trump’s conduct.
About 13.6 million of Thursday’s viewers — 77% — were 55 or older, Nielsen said. Only 705,000 were between 18 and 34 years old.
MSNBC said the 4.7 million people who watched its coverage represented its largest prime-time audience since the night of the event the commission is investigating.
Public hearings are expected to resume in September.