This week’s Democratic National Convention drew an average nightly television audience of 21.6 million viewers, about 18 percent down from 2016, but still a respectable number given how many Americans have deviated from traditional TV sets in favor of online video and streaming.
A study of TV viewing patterns reveals a nation that remains deeply divided, politically and culturally. And it raises questions about which voters chose to concentrate on the convention and which voters voted for it.
MSNBC, home of liberal favorites such as Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace, had the highest rated prime-time week in its 24-year history. The most unfiltered coverage of the four-day Democratic jamboree channel easily ranks every night for all other TV networks.
Fox News, the cable house of Trump cheerleaders like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, has devoted its 10 hours to convention coverage. The network recorded its lowest average viewership in the time slot since the beginning of the year.
Overall, live TV viewing fell 17.6 percent from 2016, according to ratings agency Nielsen. Thursday’s broadcast, when former Vice President Joseph R. Biden jr. The nomination accepted in Wilmington, Del., Drew 24.6 million viewers, the largest television audience of the week.
However, the word of the ratings underscores the concerns about a dynamic choose-your-own-news that is increasingly prevalent around the country, as Americans call for a high-stakes election, depending on information sources that can confirm preconceived notions.
The divorce was not exactly unexpected. Fox News, the No. 1 rated cable news channel – and this summer, the top-rated network in all prime-time television – typically lagged behind its rivals during the week of a Democratic convention.
Still, Fox News on Thursday drew a larger audience than CBS or NBC, including among younger viewers, a notable gain over two broadcast networks available in more U.S. households. Fox News’ coverage covered CBS every night of the convention.
A few viewers – or Democratic officials, for that matter – knew very little to expect.
With the coronavirus preventing the usual TV tropics of patriotic crowds and balloons with airdrops, Democrats put on a very virtual show, mixed tap video feeds with celebrities on a soundstage in Los Angeles and Mr. Biden speaks to a most abandoned showroom in Delaware -barrensintrum.
Glitches were a few, much to the relief of the Democrats’ production team, overseeing the events of a few control rooms in Wilmington and Milwaukee, the original site of the convention before their personal elements were canceled. The convention also had an interactive element, with at least one viewer: President Trump, who in real time, often reacted angrily, to the events that arose on his screen.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump chose to have his own say on the matter, calling in Fox News for a live interview on “Hannity” – a violation of the past protocol. Presidents have typically postponed their election rivals during the week of a convention.
About 4.6 million people watched Mr. Trump appear in half an hour. After he hung up, and the network’s convention coverage began, Fox News’ audience fell 36 percent.
Nielsen figures do not capture the entire universe of viewers this week, including those who watched livestreams on the internet, a number that is difficult to calculate credibly.
As they did during the 2016 conventions, cable channels hit the Big Three broadcast networks. CNN won the week among viewers aged 25 to 54, the most important demographic in the TV news industry, and even beat MSNBC. ABC had the highest ratings of the Big Three broadcasters.
The broadcast networks are also suffering from weaker lead-ins than in the past conventional years: live sports have been shut down due to the coronavirus, and many TV productions are being stopped, leaving viewers with reruns and other less appealing rates.
