Tuesday evening, no less than 21 American channels devoted their evening to the results of the elections.

The hearings of the evening, good but measured, seem on several points to be the opposite of this unprecedented ballot.

The results of the US presidential election are not yet consolidated.

But the hearings of American television stations fell for the evening of follow-up of the poll.

Tuesday evening, 21 American channels offered a special edition, in order to follow the progress of candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the race for the White House.

Find all the media news in our daily newsletter

Receive the main media information of the day in your mailbox at 1 p.m.

An unmissable event to be up to date on the news, the TV audiences of the day before and take stock of the programs not to be missed.

Subscribe here

Political interest and television disinterest

On the voting side, we already know that the election had a record turnout, especially regarding early voting and postal voting.

But in terms of audiences, the spirit is less obvious.

They were good, but not phenomenal.

On average, 57 million viewers were tuned into one of the 21 channels depending on the results.

Which still represents more than one in six Americans.

But this score is down sharply compared to the 2016 election. That evening, 71 million viewers attended, or 20% more.

This difference may be the sign of an evolution in uses, with Americans following the results more on the Internet, particularly via news sites.

>> Find all the media newspapers in replay and podcast here

A very Trumpist channel in mind

In the details of its audiences, Fox News has emerged at the top of the audiences, all channels combined, with nearly 14 million viewers.

The 24-hour news channel is known for its benevolent treatment of outgoing President Donald Trump.

A result contrary to the latest trends in the counting, which gives Joe Biden an advance.

Fox News arrives in front of CNN and its 9 million viewers.

Third place is occupied by the news channel MSNBC, at 7 million.

There are therefore three news channels on the podium, in front of the big American chains.

ABC is only 6 million viewers, 500,000 more than NBC.

While the news channels post more or less stable scores over four years, the large chains have collapsed.

By comparison, in 2016, the big four ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox (not to be confused with Fox News) had 9 million more viewers than their combined score of 2020.