The Democratic National Convention’s closing night marked a significant milestone in the political calendar, drawing an impressive number of viewers. In fact, this event surpassed the viewership of the party’s final gathering four years ago and also outperformed the Republican convention held in July.
Vice President Kamala Harris was in the spotlight, accepting the party’s nomination to lead the Democratic ticket against Republican nominee Donald Trump. The closing night of the Democrats’ convention was broadcast across 15 different networks and managed to attract an average of 26.2 million viewers, as per Nielsen’s data. This figure is approximately 820,000 more than the 25.38 million who tuned in to watch the final night of the Republican National Convention.
Viewership Statistics
The viewership on Thursday saw a significant increase compared to the first three days of the Democratic convention. The convention’s first day averaged 20.03 million viewers, the second day brought in 20.78 million, and the third day attracted 20.18 million viewers across various broadcast and cable networks. Adding the final day’s total, the convention as a whole averaged 21.8 million viewers during primetime, showing a slight improvement over the 2020 convention’s four-night average of 21.59 million viewers.
The four-day average viewership of the Democratic National Convention also outperformed the July Republican convention by a 14 percent margin. The Republican convention averaged 19.07 million viewers over its four nights.
Network Performance
Throughout the week, MSNBC consistently drew the largest audience among all networks. On Thursday, it averaged 6.53 million viewers from 9-11:30 p.m. ET, significantly ahead of ABC, which came in second with 4.23 million viewers. CNN took the third spot with 3.94 million viewers, followed by NBC with 3.01 million. Fox News, with 2.45 million viewers, narrowly surpassed CBS, which had 2.42 million viewers.
The six aforementioned networks accounted for approximately 86 percent of the total TV audience on Thursday. The remaining 3.62 million viewers were distributed across various other networks including PBS, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET, CNNe, Fox Business, Newsmax, and NewsNation.
Demographic Breakdown
In terms of the core news demographic of adults aged 25-54, MSNBC also led the pack on Thursday with 1.28 million viewers. CNN secured the second spot in this demographic with 1.13 million viewers, while ABC was third with 1.05 million. NBC attracted 857,000 viewers in this demographic, followed by CBS with 607,000 and Fox News with 358,000.
Peak Viewership
The combined viewership reached its peak during Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech. As Harris became the second woman and first woman of color to secure a major-party presidential nomination, her speech averaged about 28.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen. It’s important to note that these figures are strictly for TV viewing and do not account for streaming viewership.
Aug. 23, 2:48 p.m. Please note, an earlier version of this story had inaccurately reported the all-network audience for the Democratic convention on Thursday.
FAQs
Q: What was the average viewership of the Democratic National Convention’s closing night?
A: The closing night of the Democratic National Convention averaged 26.2 million viewers across 15 broadcast and cable networks.
Q: Which network had the highest viewership on the final night of the Democratic National Convention?
A: MSNBC drew the largest audience among all networks on the final night, averaging 6.53 million viewers.
Q: How did the Democratic National Convention’s viewership compare to the Republican Convention?
A: The Democratic National Convention’s four-day average viewership surpassed the Republican convention by a 14 percent margin.
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