If TV viewership could be considered a benchmark of success of events, the first US presidential debate - between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama – was not a huge hit. According to New York City based Nielsen Media Research, the estimated TV audience of 52.4 million was, in fact, 10 million less than the audience for first debate between President Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, in 2004.

Nielsen’s count includes eleven networks that nationally telecast the debate, namely - ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC America, Telemundo and Telefutura.

The research says that this debate wasn’t even one of the 10 most-watched presidential debates, falling much too short of the record 80.6 audience for the October 28, 1980 debate between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Nonetheless, the 52.4 million still makes the Friday debate the most popular television event since the Super Bowl.

Higher ratings were expected for Friday’s event at the University of Mississippi, particularly due to the intense public interest in what the two White House hopefuls would say about the financial crisis, and also because of the record audiences the candidates drew at their national conventions.

It is being felt that one of the reasons that may have held the audience down could be the uncertainty about the debate till midday Friday, resulting from McCain’s call for postponement owing to the financial crisis. Yet another reason could be that Friday traditionally is the second least-watched evening of the week after Saturdays.

Going with the ‘Friday’ reason, the Thursday debate between vice president nominees, Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin, could have a bigger audience in comparison to the presidential candidate, since Thursday traditionally is the heaviest night of TV viewing.

Meanwhile, there are two more presidential debates to come - a town hall-style event on October 7 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and the domestic and economic policy debate on October 15 at Hofstra University in New York.