Last night's RNC had only 25 million viewers; Fox down 2%, competitors down double digits, from 2008

[highplainsdem]

From Mediabistro.com's TV Newser:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/rnc-ratings-night-three-romney-results-in-ratings-rise-only-fnc-retains-viewership-compared-to-2008_b143943

Night three of the Republican National Committee culminated in a speech from GOP nominee Mitt Romney, and the ratings rose accordingly.

As was the case during the first two nights of the RNC, Fox News Channel was the most watched TV news outlet, besting the broadcast networks from 10-11PM. Last night, however, the gap between FNC and its competitors was even wider, as it topped the next two networks, NBC and ABC, combined in total viewers. Every outlet except NBC improved on its Tuesday night ratings in both total viewers and the adults 25-54 demo.

Compared to the final night of the 2008 RNC it was a different story however. Fox News was just about flat compared to 2008, losing around -2% of its viewership, while NBC (-56%), ABC (-26%), CBS (-30%), CNN (-52%)and MSNBC (-25%) were down mid double digits.

From 10-until around 11:20PM, when all of the networks were televising the RNC, Fox News averaged 9.06 million total viewers, including 2.56 million adults 25-54. ABC News overtook NBC for the number two slot, averaging 4.44 million viewers including 1.61 million adults 25-54. NBC was next with 3.85 million viewers, including 1.46 million adults 25-54, followed by CBS with 3.73 million viewers, including 1.51 million adults 25-54. CNN drew 2.33 million total viewers and 903,838 adults 25-54, with MSNBC bringing in 1.88 million viewers, including 625,712 adults 25-54.

-snip-

I added up the viewer numbers given, came up with 25.29 million. On MSNBC this morning I saw speculation it might have been as high as 40 million, but they were obviously way off.



Editing to add that Obama's acceptance speech at the 2008 convention had a record 38.4 million viewers:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903177.html

[Politicalboi]

1. Just wait till next week

I bet MSNBC ratings will be high.

[JaneyVee]

2. Half of them were probably Democrats watching the RNC train wreck.

[bluestateguy]

3. We keep hearing how motivated thier side is

Motivated voters watch the convention because it is like a pep rally for their candidate.

They weren't very motivated in 2008 anyway and now this?