Daily Kos has an interesting post on the high ratings of the Democratic Convention this year.
Are you worried people aren’t watching? Don’t be. Via pollster.com, people are watching.
The opening night of the Democratic National Convention drew more than 22 million viewers, a 20% larger audience than in 2004, according to Nielsen Media Research.
These are from TV By The Numbers:
For the top 3 Cable News networks, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, the ratings for the first night of the 2008 Democratic Convention were substantially higher than the first night in 2004, with prime-time viewership up as much as 88% and adults 25-54 viewership up as much as 127%.
Some of the cable growth is at network expense. From LA Times:
NBC drew the most viewers, pulling an average of 4.71 million viewers for its hour-long special anchored by Brian Williams, up 4% from four years ago.
Despite the huge appetite for political news this season, the ratings for its broadcast competition declined. ABC’s special attracted 4.17 million viewers, down 5% from 2004. CBS fared the worst, pulling in 3.46 million viewers, a drop of 24%.
The picture was far rosier for the cable news networks, whose decision to devote nearly all their programming to convention coverage paid off. All three posted major gains over 2004.
There is an appetite for news done well. I hope someone hears that message.
How does that compare? This Nielsen Co. data was published in the WaPo:
And as for us, the political junkies, a word from Mark Blumenthal:
On the other hand, 22 million is still a far cry from the 62 million that watched the first Bush-Kerry debate in 2004.
These numbers show us that while the conventions are the most watched political events so far this cycle, they are still not quite the voters-as-jury experience that we sometimes assume. The news coverage that excerpts speeches and convention “moments” reaches a far bigger cumulative audience. Those of us interested in measuring the impact of the debates need to allow time for Americans to view that coverage, absorb it and sleep on it for a few days.
In other words, be patient and stop worrying about the “bounce” (or lack thereof) in daily tracking. Conventions matter, but the response we are interested is not necessarily instant.
Worth remembering, even if no one will.