Advertising
Supported by
The live-television audience for the Democratic National Convention has dropped 17.6% since 2016, however, many Americans saw it online.
By Michael M. Grynbaum
This week’s Democratic National Convention attracted an average night-time television audience of 21.6 million viewers, 18 percent less than in 2016, but it remains a respectable number given the number of Americans who moved away from classic televisions in favor of videos and online broadcasts.
A review of television viewing patterns shows a country that remains deeply divided, politically and culturally. And that raises the question of which electorate elected at the conference and which electorate excluded it.
MSNBC, home to liberal favorite Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace, had the week in prime time with the highest audience in its 24-year history. The necessarily unfiltered policy of the four-day Democratic jamboree channel sits seamlessly ahead of all other night-time television networks.
Fox News, Trump’s cheerleading cable network such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, spent its 22 hours. convention policy time. The network recorded its lowest hourly average since the beginning of the year.
Overall, the number of live audiences decreased by 17.6% compared to 2016, according to ratings firm Nielsen. Thursday’s show, when former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. accepted the nomination in Wilmington, Delaware, attracted 24.6 million viewers, the biggest television audience of the week.
Advertising