Nielsen ratings are in: DNC demolishes RNC in nightly viewers

23 August 2024

The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago concluded on Thursday night, August 22 when presidential nominee Kamala Harris gave her acceptance speech. Harris' GOP rival Donald Trump, according to Rolling Stone, has been obsessed with the type of ratings the DNC would have — and insisted that it would fall way short of the "tremendous" ratings of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

But the DNC event, according to Nielsen figures reported by the Daily Beast, fared much better from a ratings standpoint.

Journalist Zachary Folk, in the Beast, explains, "About 20.1 million people tuned in to watch the Democrats' conference on Wednesday, (August 21), Nielsen confirmed — the third night in a row the broadcast reached more than 20 million viewers.… The RNC attracted about 17.9 million viewers on the third night of its broadcast — a roughly 11 percent difference from the DNC's third day — which featured a primetime speech from vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio."

Folk adds, "However, the RNC's most successful night was Thursday, July 18 — when an average of 25.3 million Americans tuned in to the broadcast."

Folk also points out that the 2024 DNC's "strong ratings from night to night" came largely from older viewers.

The event, according to Folk, "struggled to reach younger voters, with only 851,000 tuning in on the first night of the conference."

"In comparison," Folk observes, "the first night of the 2016 DNC saw more than 2.4 million voters in the 18-34 demographic. However, each night's broadcast has steadily added more younger viewers. Wednesday night saw 968,000 viewers in the age range — a 13 percent increase from the convention's first night."

Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link (subscription required).

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