Posted on 07/30/2004 6:01:43 PM PDT by ambrose
Surge of interest in Kerry propels convention ratings
DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
(07-30) 15:30 PDT NEW YORK (AP) --
Based on television ratings, Americans were more interested in what John Kerry had to say in his nomination acceptance speech than they were for Al Gore in 2000.
An estimated 24.4 million viewers watched Kerry's speech on the six biggest networks Thursday night, compared to 21.1 million people who saw Gore four years earlier, Nielsen Media Research reported on Friday.
Despite Thursday's surge of interest, the overall television rating for the four-day Democratic convention was the lowest it had been since Nielsen began keeping records in 1960. In terms of viewers, it was roughly on a par with 2000, Nielsen said.
The ratings also reflected the continued erosion in ABC, CBS and NBC's news audience for big events compared to the cable news networks.
Nearly three million fewer viewers watched the convention's final night on those three networks than did in 2000. The difference came in the cable networks: 15.6 million people watched Kerry speak on ABC, CBS or NBC, while 8.8 million saw it on CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC.
The three broadcasters televised three hours of the convention over four days, skipping Tuesday's session entirely.
The broadcasters complain the conventions are stage-managed events with little news, and dwindling ratings over the years justify their decisions to cut back on the hours.
"When I speak to my friends, they say that it's important that you cover this," said Paul Mason, senior vice president of ABC News. "When I ask them, `do you watch it?' they say, `we have to see what else is on."'
The cable news networks have happily stepped into the breach. Between them, CNN, Fox and MSNBC averaged 5.6 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. during the convention, more than double their viewership in 2000.
CNN claimed an important victory, averaging 2.3 million viewers for its three-hour convention coverage, compared to 2.1 million for Fox and 1.3 million for MSNBC. During prime-time when nothing unusual is happening, Fox usually dominates with talk show hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.
Still, the Nielsen numbers show how explosively Fox has grown. Its viewer average this convention was 2.1 million compared to only 461,000 during the Democratic meeting in 2000.
Nielsen doesn't include PBS or C-SPAN in its measurements. PBS, which covered the convention for three hours each night, said its viewership was up 20 percent over four years ago.
A ratings point represents 1,084,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 108.4 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
The actual audience share was down from 2000:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1181740/posts
That's why there is no mention of the audience share in this report.
Percentage wise, fewer people watching TV were watching Kerry than watched Gore
Thats funny, today Rush added up the numbers and less people watched than 2000..
from Drudge:
CNN TOPS FOX NEWS BY 23% AND DOUBLES MSNBC (103%) IN PRIME TIME CONVENTION COVERAGE WEDNESDAY IN TOTAL VIEWERS CNN LEADS COMPETITION DURING THE KEY 10PM HOUR ALL THREE NIGHTS CNN CONTINUES TO DELIVER MORE VIEWERS THAN IN 2000 -- WEDNESDAY'S PRIME TIME AUDIENCE UP 54% FROM THIRD NIGHT OF 2000 DNC
CNN outdelivered Fox News and MSNBC in total viewers and P25-54 in prime time on the third night of the DNC, Wednesday, July 28
Prime Time (8-11pm) Total Viewers - CNN: 2169k, Fox News: 1770k, MSNBC: 1068k
Prime Time (8-11pm) P25-54 Viewers - CNN: 542k, Fox News: 511k, MSNBC: 252k
CNN's Wednesday prime time audience is up 54% from the third night of the 2000 DNC (2004: 2169k, 2000: 1411k)
On average, CNN's prime time audience the first three nights of the 2004 DNC is 40% higher than the first three nights in the 2000 DNC. (2004 Avg: 2178k vs. 2000 Avg: 1557k).
TOTAL VIEWERS FOR EACH NIGHT BELOW:
Prime time (8-11 p.m. ET)
CNN FXNC MSNBC
Mon 2004k 1641k 1144k
Tues 2362k 2340k 1404k
Wed 2169k 1770k 1068k
3 Day Avg. 2178k 1917k 1205k
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2004/07/29/20040729_223202_flash.htm
Doh! I should have read the very next post!
broadcast TV
Chris Matthews was boldly predicting 30 million viewers. Let's hope he's 20% off on any predictions of how many votes Kerry gets as well.
makes sense, there are more people in the US than there were 4 years ago.
Plus, the swing undecideds are most likely watching the Big 3. Rats were watching MSNBC and CNN.
People won't watch the Republican convention either, unless there is some news to be had.
Maybe the Freepers should organize a streeking contest each night???
On second thought, maybe there is a better idea out there someplace?
This really is absurdly spin-laden. They don't have any data to suggest any increase is from a surge of interest in Kerry, even in the numbers that increased. It could be lots of things.
The Dems really missed a chance by not putting it on themselves.
"Though related to peer I can hand reef and steer!"- and he turns out to be a commoner in the end!
It would have been more believable than what they did stage.
Keep whistling past the graveyard--Kerry just locked up the hamster vote!
Hope/Help is on the way for hamsters! And hair!
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