July 28, 2004

THERE HAD TO BE LESS LAST NIGHT:

A 'no' vote with their remotes (Richard Huff, July 28, 2004, NY Daily News)

Bill Clinton may have been eloquent, but not a lot of people heard him.

The former President's speech before the Democratic National Convention on Monday night was watched in a paltry 14.1 million homes, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's down from the 15.38 million homes average for the Democratic convention in 2000.

More startling is the number of people who tuned out when the coverage began Monday on the major broadcast networks.

For example, in the hour before the convention, CBS averaged 11.8 million viewers with a rerun of "CSI: Miami."

But for the hour of political coverage - starting at 10 p.m. - CBS averaged a measly 4.55million viewers. And CBS was the most-watched of the Big Three broadcasters during the convention.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2004 2:35 PM
Comments

I wonder how many watched Tereeeeeeeza last night. Couldn't be more that the big he. Will any viewers be left for Thursday night?

Posted by: pchuck at July 28, 2004 3:21 PM

I am very curious as to how the RNC will do, ratingswise. I'm also curious what the correlation between convention ratings and voter turnout, and between voter turnout and the election outcome.
The lousy ratings so far support the idea that rank and file Dems really don't care much for Kerry. We know R's like Bush, so from that, I'd predict far better ratings in September.

Posted by: Timothy at July 28, 2004 3:49 PM

I don't think the RNC ratings will be any higher because there is no drama to these things. Face it, the conventions are less and less important. In hindsight, I think Kerry made a mistake by announcing Edwards as his VP prior to the convention. It would have been better to do it last Saturday or Sunday.

Posted by: pchuck at July 28, 2004 4:15 PM

If OJ's right about Cheney and Condi, there will be a bit of drama.

Posted by: Timothy at July 28, 2004 5:52 PM

Arnold, Rudy, Dick Cheney ... I think people will tune in for the first two at least.

I think Cheney's on the ticket, but there may be some suspense with people like OJ feeding the rumor mill.

Ratings for the RNC should be better.

Posted by: NKR at July 28, 2004 7:10 PM
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