TV Ratings: Democratic Convention Closes With 26M Viewers, Edging RNC Final Night

TV Ratings: Democratic Convention Closes With 26M Viewers, Edging RNC Final Night

As a seasoned gamer who’s seen more political conventions than I’ve got lives in Fortnite, this year’s Democratic National Convention has been a real rollercoaster ride! The viewership numbers have been impressive, surpassing even the final night of the Republican convention and beating their own records from four years ago. It’s like leveling up my gaming score, but instead of points, it’s people tuning in to watch history being made!


On Thursday, the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention attracted a substantial number of viewers, surpassing both the final day’s attendance at their convention four years back and the last day of the Republican Convention held in July.

Vice President Kamala Harris received the Democratic Party’s endorsement to lead their ticket in the election, running against Donald Trump, the chosen candidate for the Republicans. The Democrats’ final event garnered approximately 26.2 million viewers across 15 television networks, drawing around 820,000 more viewers than the finale of the Republican National Convention, which was watched by 25.38 million people.

The overall viewership on Thursday significantly surpassed the initial three days of the Democratic Convention, which consistently attracted an average of approximately 20.33 million viewers per night: Monday saw 20.03 million viewers, Tuesday had 20.78 million, and Wednesday drew 20.18 million viewers across both broadcast and cable channels. By including Thursday’s audience, the entire convention averaged 21.8 million viewers during prime time – a slight increase compared to the 2020 convention’s four-night average of 21.59 million viewers.

Over the span of four days, the DNC attracted more television viewers compared to the Republican National Convention in July, leading by a 14% difference. Specifically, the Republican convention garnered approximately 19.07 million viewers across four nights.

On Thursday night, MSNBC led all networks with the highest viewership. They averaged approximately 6.53 million viewers between 9 and 11:30 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, significantly outperforming ABC who had 4.23 million viewers. CNN came in second place with 3.94 million viewers, followed by NBC with around 3.01 million. Fox News edged out CBS with roughly 2.45 million and 2.42 million viewers respectively.

Approximately 86% of the television audience on Thursday was covered by those six networks, while the remaining 3.62 million viewers were distributed among PBS, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET, CNN, Fox Business, Newsmax, and NewsNation.

August 23, 2:48 p.m. A previous variant of this article contained an error regarding the nationwide viewership of the Democratic convention on Thursday.

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2024-08-24 00:54