UPDATE: Viewership of the Democratic National Convention spiked slightly on its second night, reaching an average of 20.6 million viewers on Tuesday after Monday hit 20 million.
Like the night before, networks included in Nielsen’s measurement are ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, CNN, CNNe, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
Tuesday’s coverage featured speeches from Barack and Michelle Obama. During the former president’s address, according to Nielsen, viewership jumped above the night’s average to reach 21.6 million.
“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” he said, referring to Trump’s first term as president and current bid to return to office. When the audience began to boo Trump, he repeated a phrase that’s become famous from his 2016 DNC speech, when Trump was first running against Hillary Clinton: “Don’t boo. Vote.”
In her speech, the former first lady called the presidency a “Black job,” jabbing at a comment made by Trump during his debate against Joe Biden earlier this summer.
“His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happened to be Black,” she said. “Wait, I want to know — who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’?”
PREVIOUSLY: 20 million viewers tuned in to watch the Democratic National Convention across networks on Monday, according to Nielsen.
This puts Night 1 of the DNC above each of the first three nights of last months Republican National Convention, which reached 18.1 million, 14.8 million and 18 million viewers, respectively. The final night of the RNC, which featured a speech from Donald Trump, averaged 25.4 million viewers and peaked with 28.4 million.
Nielsen’s estimate accounts for coverage on ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, Univision, CNN, CNNe, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
This year’s convention is taking place in Chicago, with the first night notably featuring speeches from President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
Biden, who was running for reelection before dropping out of the race in July, promised to be the “best volunteer” for vice president Kamala Harris. He commented on his own campaign and presidency by quoting the song “American Anthem,” which he also referenced in his 2021 inaugural speech. “Let me know in my heart, when my days are through,” he said. “America, America I gave my best to you.”
Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, slammed the former president during her speech, saying, “Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial. When he woke up, he made his own kind of history, the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.” Of Harris, she said, “She will never write love letters to dictators. No matter what the polls say, we can’t let up. We can’t get driven down crazy conspiracy rabbit holes. We have to fight for the truth. We have to fight for Kamala as she will fight for us. You know what? It still takes a village to raise a family, heal a country, and win a campaign.”
