UPDATED 3.29PM An estimated 66.5 million people in the US tuned in to the second debate between presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The Nielsen company says the first debate hit 84 million viewers, smashing the previous record of 80.6 million set for the only presidential debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980.
The debate, moderated tightly by CNN's Anderson Cooper and ABC News' Martha Raddatz, was dominated early by questions surrounding Trump's outrageous comments about groping women.
Another clip getting wide airplay shows Trump telling Clinton that she'd be in jail if he was president.
MORE:Â Debate fact checker looking into more of Trump's claims than Clinton's
The second debate took place in the same time slot as NBC's popular Sunday Night Football, which is usually the most-watched television event of the week. NBC did not carry the debate.
Sunday's debate, the second of three before the November 8 election, was remarkable for the brutal nature of the exchanges between Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and Clinton, his Democratic rival.
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