How Tepid?
TV Week article says viewership of Monday’s conventioneering was “tepid”:
Preliminary national television ratings data from Nielsen Media Research indicate that interest in the first night of the Democratic convention as covered by the three major broadcast networks was tepid, to say the least.
The 10-11 p.m. hour of convention coverage of Michelle Obama’s big night on ABC, CBS and NBC added up to slightly less than 12.5 million viewers combined. NBC scored the largest audience.
But then they don’t compare to the ratings for 2004 or 2000. And this doesn’t include the cable viewership. So what does this really tell us? As best I can tell, nothing. It would be interesting to know if interest in the convention is up or down from four years ago, though.
31 Responses to “How Tepid?”
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August 26th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Here, I tracked down a USA Today article with Dem convention numbers for 2000 & 2004. Using Drudge & MediaBistro.com for 2008 numbers, here’s the rundown:
** 2004 **
NBC 4.7 M
ABC 4.4 M
CBS 4.7 M
FoxNews 2.1 M
CNN 1.6 M
MSNBC 1.3 M
Total 18.8 M
** 2008 **
NBC 4.85 M
ABC 3.78 M
CBS 3.52 M
FoxNews 2.72 M
CNN 4.24 M
MSNBC 2.10 M
Total 21.21 M
So, in a nutshell, total viewership actually INCREASED by about 2.4 million, with cable news (especially CNN) being the main beneficiary.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Here’s the data, but it includes cable viewership for those years. But, of course, cable ratings aren’t reported as often. Additionally, how many watched online?
August 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Makes total sense, because Ted Kennedy did not appear during the network coverage, which also simply left out huge chunks of it.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I’m also guessing PBS got a big chunk of viewers…it does go into just about every home in the country.
Their coverage is also less annoying than the networks, but that’s another story…
August 26th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Also, I bet a lot more watched it on the internet than in the past. I did.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
The numbers cited above also don’t include PBS and C-SPAN, both of which, you know, showed the convention rather than random talking heads doing their thing. Minderbinder’s point about the internet is well taken also.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
The numbers cited above also don’t include PBS and C-SPAN, both of which, you know, showed the convention rather than random talking heads doing their thing.
Nor did it factor in the ever-more unlistenable vapidity of network coverage, which after having accidentally switched onto NBC due to my TV set’s Olympic hangover, I’d be willing to bet shoved record numbers of viewers in one of these directions.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Yeah, you also need the ratings for PBS and C-Span, which are on the rise.
However it appears most people are getting things filtered through cable news crap.
Was it Matt Bai or Adam Nagourney who didn’t go to the conventions and instead reported them from his couch?
August 26th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
So NBC can show me and the rest of the western half of the U.S. the convention live, but not the Olympics? Hmm.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Actually, PBS showed plenty of random talking heads doing their thing. I mostly watched on C-SPAN, but switched to PBS when they showed a video feed because C-SPAN didn’t letter box the video, making it look weird.
Anyway, right makes a good point. The numbers above did not count me!
August 26th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Who would watch something of no importance?
August 26th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
That’s interesting, because Nielsen says over 17 million people tuned in, meaning this convention is on pace to be the most-watched since 1980.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/08/26/17-million-households-tune-in-to-michelle-obama/?mod=homeblogmod_washingtonwire
” August 26, 2008, 6:42 pm
17 Million Households Tune In to Michelle Obama
Amy Schatz reports on the presidential campaign.
About 17 million households watched coverage of the Democratic convention Monday night, when Michelle Obama addressed the crowd, Nielsen Co. reported this afternoon.
The research firm said the convention received a 15.1 rating during the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT timeslot, which is the only time the broadcast networks also covered the event. Nielsen’s figures include viewers watching ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, BET and TV One. They didn’t include viewers watching PBS or C-SPAN or anyone who watched online.
Nielsen also didn’t provide an immediate breakdown of each channel’s ratings.
If the next three nights continue to draw similar numbers, this could end up being the most-watched Democratic convention in almost three decades. In 2004 and 2000, the Democratic conventions averaged about 15.5 million and 15.4 million viewing households respectively, according to Nielsen’s data . The most-watched Democratic convention occurred in 1980, when 20.7 million homes watched Jimmy Carter accept the party’s nomination.
Older Americans accounted for more than half of the households that tuned in Monday night, with 10 million households with people 55 or older watching the primetime speeches. That compared with about three million households with persons between the ages of 18 to 34 who tuned in, Nielsen said. The convention coverage received a higher rating in African-American households than Hispanic or white households, according to the data.”
August 26th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Should the right-wingers chime in to complain about the media?
Oh yeah, I forgot– the right-wing doesn’t want a good media. They want to destroy the media and turn it into a compliant one.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Well, I’ll tell you what every human I know who isn’t deeply into politics says — they don’t care much about watching any of it except for Obama’s speech.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
During a few years of driving around Maui County, damn few antennas to be seen, so from Nielsen’s standpoint, we don’t exist.
The substance of Ms. Obama’s speech wasn’t bad, but the timbre of her voice suggested she’s not accustomed to speaking to large audiences.
Otherwise, ditto what El Cid (#14) said.
August 26th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
In addition, since TV One and BET are covering the Denver proceedings, the number of networks covering the convention is the largest ever. Add in people who will watch the convention or clips of speeches online, and I suspect total viewers would be even higher.
August 26th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
We’re watching on C-SPAN because we actually want to see the convention. It’s far more interesting to see all the speakers than to hear the commentators bloviate. Not including C-SPAN or PBS in the ratings for the convention is just mental.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I watched the C-Span coverage to avoid the talking heads. I wanted to watch the convention, not some d-bags analyzing the same BS reactionary stories over and over again.
But I have to ask why the big names aren’t going on until 10:30 to 11. Your losing potential voters at that hour.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:59 am
One other thing, here in NH, we don’t get C-SPAN in HD. So unless the networks were playing the actual convention, I had to watch in sub-par resolution. Someone should have provided an HD feed for us techo-geeks!
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