
For this week's fifth Democratic primary debate, hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post, the top 10 candidates took the stage in Atlanta a list that included: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.
Notably, they took questions from an all-woman panel of moderators including MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell (NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent), Kristen Welker (NBC News White House correspondent) and Ashley Parker (Washington Post White House reporter).
First, a look at advertising insights from iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. There were nearly 43 million TV ad impressions over the course of the debate, and aside from MSNBC and The Washington Post, the three most-seen brands that aired ads were all movie studios: Warner Bros., Universal Pictures and TriStar Pictures.
Given the limited commercial time, there were only 12 ad airings during the debate, and only four brands had more than one airing (Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, MSNBC and The Washington Post). Overall, spots from The Washington Post and MSNBC had the most impressions, but the third most-seen ad which aired just once came from TriStar Pictures, a trailer for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood that generated 3.43 million impressions.
We also examined viewership trends from Inscape, the TV data company with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 12 million smart TVs. Here's a look at where viewers were tuning in from across U.S. DMAs:
Via Inscape
In general, the West Coast and parts of the Northeast had higher tune-in, along with notable hot spots of viewership like the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque, IA area; Marquette, MI; and Burlington, VT-Plattsburgh, NY DMAs.
Inscape also tracks minute-by-minute viewership for everything that airs on TV. Here's what it looked like over the course of the two-hour debate:
Via Inscape
Viewership steadily increased during the first hour, with the highest level occurring between 9:40-9:55 p.m. ET. During this time, the candidates discussed:
Dealing with President Trump and bringing the country together (9:40-9:44 p.m.)
Child care and paid family leave (9:44-9:50 p.m.)
Affordable housing (9:50-9:55 p.m.)
The peak of viewership for the entire debate occurred around 9:48-9:49 p.m., as Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris discussed the need for paid family leave.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...
11/03/2026
Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...
11/03/2026
Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...
11/03/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...
11/03/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...
11/03/2026
Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...
11/03/2026
Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907
Choice without compromise
The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...
11/03/2026
The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...
11/03/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...
11/03/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...
11/03/2026
Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...
11/03/2026
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...
11/03/2026
Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...
11/03/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...
11/03/2026
As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...
11/03/2026
Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Foundry releases Nuke 17.0
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Native Gaussian Splat support, new 3D system based on USD, expanded machine learning ca...
11/03/2026
Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
The Explorers turned to France's cultural landmark...
11/03/2026
I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster
Graham Quince March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Discover how Region of Interest in Adobe A...
11/03/2026
Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
Registration is now open for Cine Gea...
11/03/2026
La Vor gine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
One of Colombia's most ambitious projects goes g...
11/03/2026
SoundMarket Launches 18,000 Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for...
11/03/2026
Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 5, 2026
0 Comments
The facility provides production and playo...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unif...
11/03/2026
Kochi Sun Sun Uses Blackmagic Replay for High School Volleyball Finals
Brie Clayton March 9, 2026
0 Comments
Versatile Blackmagic Replay system proves...
11/03/2026
Richard Bona Joins Berklee for Signature Series Concert The Grammy-winning Cameroonian bassist and vocalist collaborates with students and faculty in a progra...
11/03/2026
Launched today, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super is a 120 billion parameter open model with 12 billion active parameters designed to run complex agentic AI systems at sc...
11/03/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded nearly $5 million by NIH to investigate cancer growth Researchers will investigate how a common dietary nutrient may control...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...