In general, the television and digital data for Monday night of the Democratic National Convention showed that the two-hour event reached a wide audience, but was not a breakout success.
According to Nielsen, the six largest TV networks averaged a total of 19 million viewers over the course of the 10 hour hour, which was the only hour that NBC, ABC and CBS showed live.
The same six networks had nearly 25 million viewers combined in the first night of the DNC in 2016.
The two highest-rated channels were MSNBC, with nearly 5.2 million viewers in 10 hours, and CNN, with 4.8 million.
The differences with this year’s congress are innumerable – in 2016 there was a physical convention venue and days of live TV coverage of the host city, which sparked interest in the event.
On the other hand, the Democratic Party’s pandemic and fierce opposition to President Trump were factors that could have helped the general view this year.
Nielsen’s data only include traditional TV. Streaming services are increasingly cutting back on TV viewing and giving people more ways to consume big events.
Joe Biden’s campaign said the convention speeches and videos were streamed live across 15 different platforms, including YouTube and Twitter. Speakers like Michelle Obama also shared their comments on their own social media accounts.
Biden National Press Secretary TJ Ducklo said at least 10.2 million people watched live internet streams of the convention on Monday night.
Online viewing is not directly comparable to television because the data is measured differently, but Ducklo said the 2020 streaming numbers “crushed” the 2016 numbers.
“We’re producing a digital convention, and people are watching,” Ducklo said.
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