The biggest political scandal since Watergate drew more eyes than King James himself. Former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony raked in 19.5 million viewers on average during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday, according to Nielsen data— topping viewership for Game 3 of the NBA finals the night before.
The preliminary data released late Friday included data across 10 networks, including ABC, CNN, Fox, Univision, MSNBC, and NBC, broadcasting the Congressional hearing live.
Only 16 million viewers tuned in during Wednesday’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors for Game 3 based on early TV ratings data. That number was expected to tick up slightly, possibly adding a few more million viewers to put the game’s ratings neck-and-neck with Comey’s testimony.
As the NBA Finals continued to draw audiences in at historic levels, people’s eyes seemed to be just as keen to the political drama unfolding around the White House. After the testimony, liberals eyed grounds for possible impeachment and as President Donald Trump relished in news that the former FBI head was a “leaker.” (Despite Trump’s stance, legal experts say it’s actually hard to prosecute Comey for breaking the law.)
In addition to capturing the attention of newshounds and politicos, what would typically be a humdrum proceeding was a source of entertainment for many. People took to their local bars to watch the three-hour hearing as if it were the World Cup. Some bars even offered drink specials, such as a free drink every time Trump tweeted (he didn’t).
Comey’s testimony didn’t seem to be as popular on social media compared to TV ratings based on audience engagement data collected by SocialFlow.
3.6 million Tweets were sent 7am-1:30pm discussing Former FBI Director James Comey's testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) June 8, 2017
These are the top Tweeted moments from Former FBI Director Comey's testimony in the Senate pic.twitter.com/Ew9xcRAFNg
— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) June 8, 2017
According to SocialFlow’s co-founder Frank Speiser, people not only weren’t reacting to the story, there’s “a frequent pattern of distaste for stories about James Comey, for whatever reason.”
However, people — not Trump for once — did tweet about Comey more than 3.6 million times Thursday before, during, and after his testimony, according to Twitter data. (Trump’s State of the Union address in February only got about 3 million tweets.)
The most memorable moments Thursday that garnered the most tweets were John McCain’s bizarre line of questioning, Comey’s “Lordy, I hope there are tapes” moment, and his “no fuzz” response regarding Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.