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Compared To Democrats' Show, Republican Convention Was A Ratings Flop

Compared To Democrats' Show, Republican Convention Was A Ratings Flop

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

President Donald Trump never ceases to be status-obsessed and often tweets that his foes and adversaries fall short when it comes to ratings, crowd size and other things he uses to measure worth. But here are some figures that Trump is unlikely to be bragging about: the higher Nielsen ratings of the recent Democratic National Convention compared to its GOP counterpart, which concluded on Thursday night with a 70-minute acceptance speech from the president.

On Friday morning, Trump tweeted that Thursday night enjoyed "great ratings." But Trump didn't get into specifics or discuss the higher ratings of the DNC.



The final night of the 2020 RNC, according to Los Angeles Times reporter Stephen Battaglio, had "an average audience of 21.6 million viewers" — whereas former Vice President Joe Biden's acceptance speech at the DNC attracted 24.6 million viewers.Battaglio also notes that the audience for Trump's acceptance speech was "well below the 35 million TV viewers who watched him accept his party's nomination in 2016, and will fall short of the acceptance speeches of previous Republican nominees John McCain (38.9 million viewers in 2008), Mitt Romney (30.3 million viewers in 2012) and George W. Bush (27.6 million in 2004). TV viewing for both 2020 conventions is down from four years ago, as many viewers are likely to have watched some portion of the event through online streaming platforms which are not included in the Nielsen ratings."

One of the speakers on the third night of this year's RNC was Vice President Mike Pence. Bloomberg News reports that Pence's speech attracted "an estimated 17.3 million viewers," while a speech by Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden's running mate, on the third night of the 2020 DNC attracted 22.8 million.


The New York Times' Michael M. Grynbaum notes that the third night of the RNC "was seen by roughly 25 percent fewer live viewers than the third night of the Democratic convention last week."

Pence's speech on Wednesday night, Grynbaum points out, was seen by fewer viewers than First Lady Melania Trump's speech on Tuesday night — which, according to Nielsen, attracted 17.3 million viewers.

Trump Boasts Of TV Ratings, Berates Media As Thousands Are Dying

Trump Boasts Of TV Ratings, Berates Media As Thousands Are Dying

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Donald Trump, on Sunday afternoon:

Over 2,300 Americans have now died in the COVID-19 pandemic, due in large part to a government response that was delayed for weeks while Trump, conservative pundits, and his other allies suggested dire warnings of the pandemic’s potential spread were a “hoax” intended to make him look bad. The man is unfit for office; he cannot react to any crisis except as opportunity for self-promotion. Republican leaders continue, even as deaths mount, to offer no pushback to his false claims and incompetent measures.

ABC Interview With Trump Loser In Ratings To ‘Celebrity Family Feud’

ABC Interview With Trump Loser In Ratings To ‘Celebrity Family Feud’

ABC’s primetime special featuring Trump was a ratings flop.

“President Donald Trump’s much-teased interview with ABC was not the ratings bonanza the numbers-obsessed president likely would have wanted,” Politico noted on Monday.

The program, which featured ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos following Trump for 30 hours, came in third place during it’s time slot on Sunday night, behind the U.S. Open on Fox and “60 Minutes” on CBS. And Trump only gave a slight ratings bump to “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” which aired right before him. That program might have been more illuminating.

ABC’s primetime special featuring Trump was a ratings flop.

“President Donald Trump’s much-teased interview with ABC was not the ratings bonanza the numbers-obsessed president likely would have wanted,” Politico noted on Monday.

The program, which featured ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos following Trump for 30 hours, came in third place during it’s time slot on Sunday night, behind the U.S. Open on Fox and 60 Minutes on CBS. And Trump only gave a slight ratings bump to “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” which aired right before him. That program might have been more illuminating.

Trump’s special attracted 3.91 million viewers, far below the 6 million viewers ABC attracted in the same time slot a week ago with “Celebrity Family Feud,” hosted by comedian Steve Harvey.

That means millions more people were interested in seeing outspoken Trump critics Chrissy Teigen and John Legend take on the cast of Vanderpump Rules than watch Trump repeat his tired lines and weird behavior in front of Stephanopoulos.

The few who tuned in on Sunday saw Trump attack chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for coughing, lie about his lack of accomplishments in the presidency, and whine that he has had it tougher than President Abraham Lincoln.

It is well known that Lincoln was assassinated during his presidency, while Trump has merely had his incompetence and inadequacies pointed out regularly.

Even compared to political content in the same time slot, Trump underperformed. Last November, ABC News hosted former First Lady Michelle Obama for a special on a Sunday night to discuss her book, Becoming, and it drew 5.5 million viewers.

The ratings show that Americans are continuing to tune out Trump. He has always been unpopular and polling shows him behind the top 2020 presidential contenders.

Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016; now he’s trailing golfers, the team at 60 Minutes and even Steve Harvey. Sad.

Published with permission of The American Independent.

HBO’s ‘True Detective’ Season Finale Locks Up A Ratings High

HBO’s ‘True Detective’ Season Finale Locks Up A Ratings High

By Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — An average of 3.5 million viewers tuned in for Sunday’s season finale of “True Detective,” the HBO crime anthology starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, according to Nielsen.

That’s the biggest audience ever for the 9 p.m. ET cable drama and 50 percent higher than the 2.3 million who watched the show’s premiere.

The show’s big closer faced heavy competition on cable and broadcast networks, including the premieres of ABC’s “Resurrection” and Fox’s “Cosmos,” along with an episode of the AMC hit “Walking Dead.”

McConaughey and Harrelson played investigators hunting for a Louisiana serial killer.

A total of 11 million people have watched the series to date, which marks the highest gross viewership for a first-season HBO series since “Six Feet Under” hooked 11.4 million in 2001.

Photo: JasonParis via Flickr