DNC Viewership Disaster: Less Than Half Tune In To Watch Democratic Convention Compared To 2016

If Trump plans on accusing the Democrats of being low energy, he may be on to something.

In what can only be described as a media disaster, only 5.7 million people tuned in to the first night of the Democratic National Convention on the major broadcast networks, cutting the viewership from 2016 by more than half as the virtual event which many dubbed “as exciting as an infomercial”, proved a dud compared to the traditional live gathering.

According to Nielsen, from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern, Monday’s convention debut drew 2.1 million viewers on ABC, 1.9 million on NBC and 1.7 million on CBS. This is less than half the 11.6 million people who watched the first night of the event on those networks four years ago between 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., the website TV by the Numbers reported at the time. Cable ratings will be available later Tuesday.

As Bloomberg notes, “the unusual four-day program, which was moved online due to the coronavirus, began with urgent calls from Democrats to elect former Vice President Joe Biden and push President Donald Trump out of office.” And while last night’s telethon featured music videos and speeches from popular figures such as former first lady Michelle Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders, it appears that almost nobody saw them.

By comparison, Obama, Sanders and Warren spoke on the first night in 2016.