See below for an update to this story.
According to preliminary Nielsen household ratings, Hillary Clinton‘s Thursday DNC speech was less-watched than Donald Trump‘s RNC address last week — by two million viewers.
CNN Money reports that 28 million viewers across the six biggest cable and broadcast channels tuned in to watch Clinton accept the nomination, while 30 million viewers tuned in to watch Trump’s acceptance speech:
The six channels included here are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS.
Nielsen will release a more complete audience estimate for Clinton’s speech later in the day on Friday, including Spanish language broadcasters and smaller cable channels.All in all, 32.2 million people tuned in for Trump last week, according to Nielsen.
The Democrat convention outscored the Republicans on the first three nights of their convention, however:
Monday night’s DNC speeches were seen by 26 million viewers across seven channels, versus 23 million for night one of the RNC.
Tuesday night’s DNC coverage averaged 24 million, versus 19 million for night two of the RNC.
And Wednesday night attracted 24.4 million viewers, versus 23.4 million viewers for the RNC.
Clinton’s speech was widely panned by pundits on Twitter who criticized her loud, monotone delivery. Others found it to be weak and anti-climatic.
Las Vegas journalist Jon Ralston said:
Unless you are a Hillbot, you will not say that was a great or memorable speech. It will disappear into the ether faster than most of them.
New York Times reporter Robert Draper concurred: “Not well written, not well delivered,” he tweeted.
Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics and Sonny Bunch of the Washington Free Beacon offered faint praise on Twitter. Bevan called Clinton’s speech “the 8th best speech of the convention,” while Bunch called it “the fifth-best speech” of the night.
Guy Benson of Townhall was brutal:
Whether Clinton gets an appreciable bump in the polls remains to be seen. Said ABC News’ Rick Klein:
None of what she said can erase the memories or the baggage of the Clintons. It won’t lessen the fight ahead for a third-straight Democratic presidential term, or the obstacles she faces after a quarter-century in public life.
_______
UPDATE 5:39 EST: Final ratings results show Trump edging Clinton by 1.6 million viewers. The Hollywood Reporter:
Updated returns for Clinton’s speech, delivered during the 10 o’clock hour on nearly all television networks, offer a tally of 33.3 million viewers from the four broadcast networks and three cablers with coverage. Trump brought in 34.9 million viewers across all nets carrying the speech.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member