Republican Convention Night 3 Ratings Down From 2012 For ABC & CBS As Ted Cruz Shunned & Mike Pence Speaks
Well, Donald Trump said they were going to do something different for the Republican National Convention 2016 and in that the candidate has kept his word, though the third night from Cleveland didn’t exactly see a ringing endorsement from a former rival.
Cranking up the drama of the GOP gathering, Texas Senator Ted Cruz was overshadowed by Trump himself and booed off the stage at the RNC on Wednesday after poignantly offering token congrats to the nominee and refusing to back him. All of which left VP nominee Gov. Mike Pence to give a speech that couldn’t save itself from being anti-climatic.
Which was sort of the state of the ratings for the RNC last night in the 10 PM ET live slot with NBC even right now with 2012 and ABC and CBS both down from the comparable night four years ago. With a 1.3/5 among adults 18-49 and 5.6 million viewers in early numbers the Comcast-owned net was still the highest rated of the Big 3 covering the shindig and up over Tuesday’s final 1.0 rating and audience of 4.68 million viewers. NBC’s coverage of the RNC on August 29, 2012 got a 1.1 in the final and adjusted numbers.
It’s for ABC and CBS where things get mucky with both nets declining in double digits in the key demo from 2012. In the early numbers of 0.5/2, the Disney-owned net is down 29% from what it drew on that late August night when then VP nominee Paul Ryan spoke in Tampa four years ago. With a 0.4/2, CBS took an even bigger hit with a 33% fall from its demo result of the comparable night in 2012. Both nets saw downward adjustments to a 0.6 for ABC and a 0.5 for CBS in the final numbers for their 2012 RNC coverage – which would have them at 20% down this year for CBS and 17% for ABC comparing those apples to oranges. Compared to the final numbers of July 19 this year, ABC is even right now while CBS is down 20%. For some more RNC math, ABC had 2.02 million viewers last night in the 10 PM slot and CBS had 2.11 million.
Estimates are that around 20 million people in all watched the RNC during the 10 PM slot on broadcast and cabler newsers – which is less than watched the comparable night of both 2012 and 2009.
Last night ABC was all repeats except for its convention coverage but CBS, NBC and Fox put in a full night’s work. Though down two tenths from last week’s final number and a tenth from the early results, America’s Got Talent (2.2/9) was the top rated and most watched (10.22 million) show of the night to give NBC an overall win with a 1.9/7 rating and 8.70 million watching. Coming in second in the demo with a 1.0/4, Fox had MasterChef (1.2/5) and Wayward Pines (0.7/3) – which were up a tenth and even respectively from their July 13 show.
Big Brother (1.7/7) and a 9 PM American Gothic (0.6/3) were down a tenth and up a tenth from last week. The CW’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us (0.3/1) was down a tenth from its season premiere last week as was Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.3/1).
The RNC 2016 wraps up tonight with the acceptance speech for the party’s nomination for President by the former Celebrity Apprentice host – doubt Ted Cruz will be showing up.
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