An estimated 30.3 million people watched the fourth and final night of the 2012 Republican National Convention on Thursday, August 30. The convention was delayed a day due to Hurricane Isaac. The last night of the RNC was carried live from Tampa, Florida across eleven networks and featured a speech by the Sunshine State’s Senator Marco Rubio and by Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who accepted the GOP’s nomination.
In 2008, more than 38.9 million people watched the comparable closing night of the RNC when John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination—about 8.6 million more people than last night’s viewership. McCain’s acceptance speech in 2008 also bested then Democratic hopeful Pres. Barack Obama’s speech by 500,000 viewers.
While coverage varied by network, all eleven aired live coverage from approximately 10:00PM to 11:15PM. The chart below highlights the sum of the average audience for these networks during common coverage.
| Sum of Networks Live + Same Day | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1- 8/27/2012 | Day 2- 8/28/2012 | Day 3- 8/29/2012 | Day 4- 8/30/2012 | |||||
| Rating | Number
of Viewers |
Rating | Number
of Viewers |
Rating | Number
of Viewers |
Rating | Number
of Viewers |
|
| All Households |
No common coverage due to Hurricane Isaac |
14.7 | 16,920,000 | 14.7 | 16,697,000 | 19.3 | 22,095,000 | |
| Persons 2+ | 7.7 | 22,301,000 | 7.7 | 21,942,000 | 10.5 | 30,251,000 | ||
| Persons 18-34 | 2.2 | 1,483,000 | 3.2 | 2,129,000 | 4.7 | 3,214,000 | ||
| Persons 35-54 | 6.7 | 5,414,000 | 6.7 | 5,482,000 | 10.3 | 8,329,000 | ||
| Persons 55+ | 18.8 | 14,661,000 | 17.6 | 13,670,000 | 22.5 | 17,539,000 |
Networks Included:
Day 2 – ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, CRNT, MSNBC, NBC and PBS
Day 3 – ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, CRNT, MSNBC, NBC and PBS
Day 4 – ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, CRNT, MSNBC, MUN2, NBC, PBS and UNI
| Sum of Networks Live + Same Day | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1- 9/1/2008 | Day 2- 9/2/2008 | Day 3- 9/3/2008 | Day 4- 9/4/2008 | |||||
| Rating | Number of Viewers | Rating | Number of Viewers | Rating | Number of Viewers | Rating | Number of Viewers | |
| Persons 2+ |
No common coverage due to Hurricane Gustav |
7.3 | 21,528,000 | 12.9 | 37,244,000 | 13.4 | 38,933,000 |
2008 Networks Included
Day 2 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC
Day 3 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC
Day 4 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, Univision, Telemundo
Click here for a historical look at past Republican and Democratic conventions.
