Democratic National Convention night two viewership was down at least 48 percent from broadcasts of the same night in 2016, even though many Americans are subject to government restrictions keeping them cooped up at home far more this year. According to reports, the top six broadcast networks, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CNN, only received 6.13 million viewers combined during air time of the convention this year.
DNC Night 2 preliminary numbers, broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC): 6.13 million viewers .
Marks a 48% drop from DNC Night 2 broadcast network numbers in 2016 (which didn't occur during a pandemic).
Cable numbers out later this afternoon.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) August 19, 2020
To put it in perspective, “America’s Got Talent” received more views during its scheduled hour on NBC than any other network individually recorded during the second night of the DNC.
Tuesday night, which featured former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, former Secretary of State John Kerry, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former President Bill Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter, and others, was supposed to showcase the “leaders and the experts…who seek to unite and not divide.”
The viewership gained by the six main networks the first night of the 2020 DNC was also down by 6 million viewers from the first night of the DNC in 2016, which topped out at 25 million broadcast viewers. Night one did, however, pull significantly higher numbers of people, 19 million, than those who tuned in this Tuesday for night two.
According to T.J. Ducklo, spokesperson Joe Biden’s campaign, online numbers for night one of the 2020 DNC did set a new record for “digital streams.”
“NEWS: 28.9 million Americans tuned in to @DemConvention last night across TV & digital platforms, up from 2016 & shattering the previous record for digital streams, which totaled 10.2m even as numbers still come in,” he tweeted. “We are producing a digital convention, and people are watching.”
NEWS: 28.9 million Americans tuned in to @DemConvention last night across TV & digital platforms, up from 2016 & shattering the previous record for digital streams, which totaled 10.2m even as numbers still come in.
We are producing a digital convention, and people are watching.
— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) August 18, 2020
