Media

Fox News bests major networks in convention ratings

by Joe Concha - 07/22/16 3:56 PM ET

Fox News once again ran away from the competition on the final night of the Republican National Convention.

{mosads}For the fourth straight evening, Fox News won big on the ratings front, delivering 9.35 million total viewers and 2.48 million in the key 25–54 demographic during the 10 p.m. hour, when Republican nominee Donald Trump made his acceptance speech.

Fox News’s total viewers beat that of CNN and ABC combined, which finished with 5.47 million (1.9 million in the 25–54 demo) and 3.86 million (1.43 million 25–54), respectively.

CNN’s audience, however, still set an all-time record for Republican convention coverage for the network.

MSNBC, despite finishing last overall, was still up an impressive 54 percent in total viewers and 39 percent in the key demo.

NBC won the night among the Big Three broadcast networks with 4.587 million viewers and 1.76 million in the 25–54 demo. As was the case for the first three nights, NBC, ABC and CBS didn’t kick off their coverage until 10 p.m.

Surprisingly, convention viewership on the three major networks declined compared to 2012. The total 10.65 million viewers who tuned into the final night of the convention was a decrease from the 12.02 million in 2012 which — unlike this year — featured no real surprises with Mitt Romney as the nominee.

Across all broadcast and cable news networks, 31.55 million tuned in to see Trump’s speech. That is slightly better than the 30.3 million Romney pulled in for his acceptance speech in 2012 but still far short of some media analyst expectations for an event centered on Trump.

Still, Trump had no problem taking bragging rights.

One of the best produced, including the incredible stage & set, in the history of conventions. Great unity! Big T.V. ratings! @KarlRove

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2016

In 2008, 38.9 million people tuned in to see Republican nominee John McCain’s speech during his race against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

So almost 10 million more people tuned in to watch the guy who was captured at the #RNC than Trump last night. Hilarious, poetic irony.

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) July 22, 2016