WASHINGTON, March 20 – A national town hall on inequality in America hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and The Guardian, The Young Turks, NowThis and Act.tv drew an estimated 1.7 million live viewers Tuesday night, rivaling the viewership of cable news in primetime. By Tuesday morning, nearly 2.5 million views had accumulated on the town hall video across all platforms.

Sanders’ first national town hall on Medicare for all was viewed live by 1.1 million people.

“The overwhelming success of our inequality and Medicare for all town halls shows that the American people are hungry for serious discussions about serious issues whether it is heath care or the movement toward oligarchy. They want more than political gossip,” Sanders said. “I look forward to building on our first two town halls to bring the American people more discussions in the coming months about the issues that matter most to them.”

On Sanders’ Facebook page alone, the town hall live stream had nearly 500,000 views by the time the event concluded at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Sanders was joined by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), filmmaker Michael Moore, Professor Darrick Hamilton, Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise Founder Catherine Coleman Flowers, UAW Vice President Catherine Coleman Flowers and Professor Gordon Lafer.

The town hall was broadcast live from the Capitol Visitor Center Congressional Auditorium, where Sanders and his guests spoke in front of a full house of 450 people. A hundred people watched from an overflow room.