CNN Clobbers Competition On Day 1 Of DNC Ratings
CNN overtook MSNBC to rank No. 1 in both total viewers and in the news demo on the first night of the DNC.
But the process of nominating the first female candidate for POTUS by one of the major political parties, and the internecine squabbling in the convention hall (and the leaked DNC emails) was of interest to Fox News Channel viewers as well. FNC, scored its best ever DNC primetime numbers, though it trailed CNN and MSNBC.
MSNBC ranked first on the first night of DNC 2012 when Barack Obama successfully ran for re-election .
Last night, CNN clocked 6.2M viewers and 2.2M news demo viewers from 10-11:30 PM during keynote speeches by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, both of which had followed what was by far the night’s most talked about address, by First Lady Michelle Obama. (Some networks cut off that block of time, for Nielsen ratings purposes, a couple moments ahead of 11:30 PM.)
MSNBC finished second in overall crowd with 5M viewers and 1.4M news demo viewers, besting Fox News, and broadcasters.
NBC News pitched the notion MSNBC’s stats should be merged with those of the NBC News broadcast network coverage, which was was tops among broadcasters, with 4.3M total viewers and 1.7M of them in the 25-54 age bracket. “More Americans turned to NBC News and MSNBC combined for coverage of the first night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention than any other broadcast or cable television network,” the news division boasted this afternoon.
ABC News delivered 4.1M viewers and 1.4M news demo viewers, from 10-11:28 PM.
Fox News Channel trailed, with 3.3M viewers and 898K news demo viewers.
CBS News logged 3.2M viewers and 1.1M news demo viewers, with an 11:25 PM cutoff.
In primetime, CNN ranked No. 1 among cable news networks with 5.1M total viewers, besting MSNBC’s 3.8M and Fox News’ 3.7M. Ditto the demo, where CNN logged 1.7M viewers to MSNBC’s 1.1M and FNC’s 858K.
Compared to the first night of the DNC 2012, CNN is up by 70% in total viewers and 70% among adults 25-54 during primetime.
FNC was up 48% in viewers and 55% in the demo compared to the first day of the 2012 DNC.
Shortly before last night’s numbers came out, FNC issued ratings for last week’s RNC coverage, in which it handily beat the competition, along with a memo to staff from Rupert Murdoch, who has stepped in as interim chief with last week’s suddent departure of Roger Ailes, congratulating them on that win.
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