RNC Broadcast Ratings Rise With Donald Trump Speech, ‘Bones’ Finale Steady
Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on the closing night of the Republican National Convention already set a record as the longest in the last four decades. Will it also qualify as the highest rated? Trump certainly feels that way, per his tweet Friday morning:
One of the best produced, including the incredible stage & set, in the history of conventions. Great unity! Big T.V. ratings! @KarlRove
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 22 юли 2016 г.
Early ratings estimates from Nielsen don’t quite support that, but in the non-time zone-adjusted fast nationals, the 10 PM-11 PM broadcast coverage of the convention, which included a portion of Trump’s speech on the East Coast, drew a combined 2.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 10.65 million viewers, the highest marks for the 2016 RNC. NBC again led the way with a 1.1 in 18-49 and 4 million viewers. For now, the total is slightly below the broadcast tally for Night 4 of the 2012 convention (12.02 million viewers), but that may change in the finals. With the cable networks viewership factored in, Trump is expected to eclipse the viewership for the 2012 speech of nominee Mitt Romney but may not be able to match the audience for John McCain’s 2008 acceptance.
Overall on Thursday, CBS’ Big Brother was the highest-rated broadcast program with a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating, down -0.2 from last week. The penultimate season finale of Bones (0.8), which was impacted by RNC coverage, was even with last week’s fast national and down a tenth from the final.
Fox’s Home Free (0.4) and NBC’s Spartan finale (0.9) were each down a tenth, while ABC’s BattleBots (0.7) and Greatest Hits (0.7) each dropped -0.2.
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