Final Clinton-Trump debate audience rises; 3-debate average highest ever

The three presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will go down as the most-watched series of debates in television history.

An audience of 71.46 million people watched Wednesday’s third and final face-off between the Republican and Democratic party nominees, based on figures from 11 channels that aired the debate.

Wednesday’s crowd was about 7.5 percent larger than the second debate’s audience of 66.5 million — which didn’t air on NBC due to the network’s NFL obligations — and still well short of the record-setting 84.4 million for the first contest.

Together, the three debates averaged about 74.1 million viewers, the biggest audience ever in an election year where more than one debate took place. Prior to this year, only one previous debate (the lone contest between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980) drew more than 70 million people.