The Republican convention has been a ratings loser as millions more people tuned in to President Biden’s press conference than are watching the convention.
Variety reported on night one of the Republican convention:
The first telecasts of the Republican National Convention on Monday drew in 18.1 million viewers across networks, per Nielsen.
That total, measured during the 10 p.m. ET hour, accounts for 12 broadcasters and cablers: ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, Telemundo, CNN, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS, with Nielsen noting that Telemundo only aired 9 minutes of RNC coverage.
Fox News led the pack by far with 6.9 million viewers at 10 p.m. Next was ABC with 2.3 million viewers, NBC with 2.2 million, CBS with 1.8 million, MSNBC with 1.3 million and CNN with 1.1 million.
Here are the ratings for Biden’s press conference, again from Variety:
Around 24.2 million people watched President Joe Biden‘s news conference at NATO Summit on Thursday, according to Nielsen data. That’s up from the 20.3 million people who watched President Biden address the nation on October 19 in regards to the Israel and Ukraine wars, and it’s hovering in State of the Union address territory, as interest continues to be pronounced when it comes to President Biden’s physical state and performance.
Biden drew more viewers for a press conference than Trump for appearing after getting shot and unveiling his running mate. The Republican convention viewership is down 5 million viewers from 2016, which illustrates that Trump’s played out act is tired, and it doesn’t draw ratings anymore.
Speaking of ratings, it might be wise for MSNBC to go back to regular programming and stop covering the convention. Their viewers clearly hate it, as the viewership numbers are so poor that CNN is almost beating them. Not even dragging Rachel Maddow out to anchor this programming has caused viewers to tune in.
Watching Biden talk about foreign policy for an hour is a bigger draw than Trump and the entire Republican Party.
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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association