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DNC: Who's watching?

Email|Link|Comments (5) Posted by Joanna Weiss August 27, 2008 07:30 AM

A fair amount of people, it turns out. According to the Nielsen Company, some 22 million people, nearly half of them older than 55, watched the 10-to-11 p.m. hour of convention coverage -- which included Michelle Obama's speech -- on Monday night, spread across ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, BET, and TV One. By contrast, the same hour of the 2004 Democratic National Convention drew about 18.5 million viewers.

Another metric: the convention was seen in roughly 17 million households (compared to about 14 million households in 2004.) About 12.7 million of this year's households were white, 3.2 million black, and 869,000 Hispanic. (Alas, Nielsen doesn't measure biracial households.)

PBS, which has also been airing convention coverage, tracks its numbers differently, and projects that it drew 2.8 million viewers on Monday. Some more detailed ratings numbers are here.

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5 comments so far...

Ms. Weiss,

Please learn the difference between "number" and "amount."

Posted by Dr. Sax August 27, 08 02:26 PM

All of the Republicans were in bed since they actually had jobs to go to the next morning....

Posted by Chris August 27, 08 03:10 PM

It's great that so many people are watching but a shame that the likes of CNN, et. al, are only showing chunks so they can show their "best news team on television" argue about menial points in the Illinois State Representative's speech. I personally watch a stream online; you get unobstructed coverage of the convention and all its speakers.

Personally I feel that all the major speakers so far were excellent. I think that Clinton did all she could to get her loyalists to follow her in supporting Obama. Michelle's speech was great, as was Senator Kennedy's. Governor Warner was by no means as good as Barack was in '04, but he didn't really have a chance.

Posted by Mike August 27, 08 03:25 PM

Well, "Chris," I am an independent voter, and thankfully, I still have a job. Indeed, I get up each work morning at 0330 and commute over 60 miles -- one way. The fact that I still have a job is no thanks at all to the Republican Party and its policies. Also, Chris, I served my country as an officer in our military for 8 years. If you happened to watch the DNC coverage last night (28Aug08), you would have seen the long procession of retired Generals and Admirals throwing their support to Obama. I'll be interested in hearing what McCain has to say in his speech, but Obama's speech was outstanding. Outstanding! BTW, it appears that Fox "News" is providing the "pool camera" for the broadcast of the DNC. I simply could not understand why the cameraman went out of his way to catch people who appeared bored, tired, or appeared to be talking about something unrelated to a given speaker. Fox providing camera? OMG -- no wonder... If there is anything worse than the pathetic coverage of "the corporate media," it's Fox News. Fox is the most unabashed, shameless, and pathetic shill for that Republican Party that one could imagine.

Posted by James Smith August 29, 08 08:36 AM

I have a job too. I was in bed.

Posted by JB August 29, 08 01:39 PM