An estimated 66.5 million people tuned in to the second debate between US presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, down from the record-setting audience who saw their first match but on par with the Obama-Romney contests four years ago.
The first debate hit 84 million viewers, smashing the previous record of 80.6 million set for the only presidential debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980, the Nielsen company said on Monday.
In 2012, an estimated 65.6 million people watched the second debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, after 67.2 million saw their first debate.
The two candidates had to compete on Sunday with the NFL's prime-time contest between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, which was seen by 16.6 million people on NBC. A football game aired opposite the first debate, too, but it was on cable's ESPN and reached only 8 million people.
Sunday's debate, moderated tightly by CNN's Anderson Cooper and ABC News' Martha Raddatz, was dominated early by questions surrounding Trump's lewd conversation with Billy Bush in a recently resurfaced "Access Hollywood'' outtake. In another clip getting wide airplay on Monday, Trump tells Clinton that "you'd be in jail'' if he were elected.
Raddatz said she could feel the tension in the room from the start.
"When they came together at the beginning and didn't shake hands, you knew you were in for a long evening,'' she told "Good Morning America'' on Monday.
The candidates shook hands at the end, following a disarming question from an audience member, who asked each candidate if they could think of one thing positive to say about the other.
