TV Ratings: Hillary Clinton’s DNC Speech on Par With Trump’s in Early Numbers

After a solid, if not spectacular, showing from the Republicans just a week ago, the DNC upped the ratings game by a strong margin over the first three days of its convention. It simultaneously outpaced its 2012 showing, albeit not by that much. Updated returns for Clinton's speech, delivered during the 10 o'clock hour on a handful of television networks, offer a tentative 30 million viewers from the four broadcast networks and three cablers with coverage.

CNN again led the pack with 7.5 million viewers during the speech's time period. MSNBC followed 5.3 million viewers, with broadcast sister network NBC News just behind with 4.5 million viewers. (That makes for the eighth night of convention coverage in which the network topped its broadcast competition.) ABC News follows with 3.9 million, with CBS pacing third with 3.7 million. Fox News Channel grabbed 3 million viewers. An additional 1.5 million viewers came from Spanish-language net Univision. That total is slightly shy of what Donald Trump pulled during the RNC finale last week, though the Democrats have been seeing more sizeable boosts from PBS. 

To surpass Donald Trump's audience last week as the 2016 conventions high, Thursday's coverage will have to top 32 million viewers when all numbers are added together. Outperforming 2012 and 2008 DNC showings from Barack Obama does not seem possible for Clinton. Those convention finales reached respective formidable tallies of 35.7 million and 38 million viewers. 

2016 Convention Audiences
The below numbers reflect Nielsen sums of broadcast and cable coverage — as well as PBS stations.

DNC
Day 1 — 28.4 million 
Day 2 — 28 million
Day 3 — 27 million 
Day 4 — TBD

RNC