More people watched Biden on ABC than Trump on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC - CNN

And that's not even the most surprising part.

The Trump town hall was simulcast by two of NBC's cable channels, MSNBC and CNBC, but even when those channels are included in the total, Biden -- on only one network -- still prevailed.

The Trump town hall averaged 10.9 million viewers on the NBC broadcast network.

But when the TV ratings have disappointed him, he has also shifted to other metrics; when Biden had a bigger TV audience for his convention, Trump complained that "Online Streaming Numbers" weren't being counted in the totals.

After the Nielsen ratings for the town halls came out Friday, Miller retweeted a Trump fan who tried to combine TV and YouTube data to portray Trump as the true victor.

The first, and so far only, debate of this fall was watched by more than 73 million Americans.

While surprising to many media and political observers, Biden's ratings strength has been palpable for months.

When Trump participated in a town hall on ABC last month, for example, the event reached 3.8 million viewers; when Biden held a town hall on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC last week, it totaled 6.7 million viewers.