Democratic National Convention Night Two Ticks Up in Early Numbers

Last night’s proceedings were up around 7% in total viewership across the broadcast networks, according to early Nielsen numbers.

After leading the three broadcast networks on night 1, ABC dropped to third place on the second night, drawing 1.8 million total viewers, which is roughly a 14% dip. This time around, it was NBC that came out on top with around 2.3 million viewers, a 21% jump from the day before. CBS sandwiched the two with just over 2 million total pairs of eyeballs, an 18% bump from night 1. All three networks combined for around 6.1 million total viewers.

It remains to be seen whether that will translate into an overall increase on the first night, once the cable news networks have been taken into account.

All told, the first night of the DNC delivered around 19 million total viewers, which represented a 27% dip from the previous convention in 2016.

However, the fact that the 2020 DNC will likely be substantially down on the last edition overall isn’t necessarily surprising given that much of this year’s convention is pre-taped and that television viewership as a whole has declined significantly in the last four years.

After Michelle Obama stole the show with a rousing speech on the first night, Tuesday saw Joe Biden officially announced as the Democrat choice to take on President Trump. Biden’s wife Jill Biden was arguably the highlight of the evening, delivering a speech from a classroom.

Speakers on both nights focused on the “three crises” Democrats are seeking to underscore: the pandemic, mass unemployment and the crisis of racial justice.