Washington, Oct. 4 : Over 73 million people are reported to have watched the vice presidential debate between Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Delaware Senator Joe Biden on Thursday night, making it the most watched vice presidential debate in U. S. history.

According to the Washington Post, the debate was also the second-most-watched political debate, ranking behind the October 28, 1980, debate between President Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, which logged nearly 81 million viewers.

Nielsen Media Research said yesterday that 70 million people watched the 90-minute debate across ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox broadcast network, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, TeleFutura and BBC America.

PBS projects that 3.5 million others watched the debate, moderated by its own Gwen Ifill, on public broadcasting stations.

Before the Biden-Palin match, the most watched vice presidential debate was, coincidentally, the only other one to feature a female candidate. George H. W. Bush and Geraldine Ferraro drew 
56.7 million viewers on October 11, 1984, Nielsen said.

After Carter-Reagan, the presidential debate that drew the most viewers was the October 15, 1992, three-way among then-President Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, Nielsen said. That logged 
69.9 million viewers.

The September 26 debate between John McCain and Barack Obama drew 52.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

The market with the largest percentage of homes tuning in to the debate was Baltimore, with 59 percent.

About 51 percent of television homes in Washington tuned in.

ABC led the Palin-Biden watching pack, logging 13.1 million viewers for the debate from approximately 9 to 10:30 p. m.

NBC was on its heels with an average of 12.8 million.

CBS and Fox News Channel each logged 11.1 million viewers. That''s the biggest audience ever for FNC, which celebrates its 12th anniversary Tuesday.

CNN logged about 10.7 million viewers and boasted that its audience included the highest rating among 18-to-34-year-olds in cable news history. Nearly 3.2 million of its viewers fell in that age bracket.

Fox broadcast network drew 4.5 million and MSNBC 4.4 million. (ANI)