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First Night of 2016 Democratic National Convention Draws 26 Million Viewers

1 minute read | July 2016

An estimated 26 million people tuned in to watch the first night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention on Monday, July 25. Day one of the convention was carried live from Philadelphia, Penn., across seven commercially-supported networks. The night featured speeches by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama.

While coverage varied by network, all seven aired live coverage from approximately 10 p.m. ET to 11:30 p.m. ET.

In terms of the social nature of the convention, 3.3 million Tweets were sent by 693,000 people in the U.S. about the first night of the “Democratic National Convention,” according to Nielsen Social. Twitter activity spiked at 10:21 p.m. ET, when 30,400 Tweets were sent in one minute following Michelle Obama’s speech.

The chart below highlights the sum of the average audience for these commercially-supported networks during common coverage.

2016 Democratic National Convention

Sum of Networks Live + Same Day
  Day 1-July 25, 2016
  Rating Number of Viewers
All Households 16.6 19,379,000
Persons 2+ 8.7 25,952,000
Persons 18-34 3.5 2,418,000
Persons 35-54 8.8 7,032,000
Persons 55+ 17.9 15,395,000

2016 Networks Included:

Day 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, FOXNC and MSNBC

2012 Democratic National Convention

Sum of Networks Live + Same Day    
  Day 1-Sept. 4, 2012
  Rating Number of Viewers
Persons 2+ 9.1 26,245,000

2012 Networks Included:

Day 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, BET, CNN, CRNTV, FOXNC, MSNBC and PBS

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