DNC Draws 20M, 20.6M Viewers, Surpasses RNC

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) attracted significant viewership during its first two nights, surpassing the Republican National Convention (RNC) in ratings. On the first night, the DNC drew approximately 20 million viewers across 13 networks, according to Nielsen ratings. This figure was higher than the 18 million viewers who tuned in for the RNC's first night. The second night of the DNC saw a slight increase in viewership, reaching 20.6 million viewers across 12 networks, again outperforming the RNC, which had 14.8 million viewers on its second night. The DNC's ratings were led by MSNBC, which had the highest viewership among cable news networks. Despite the strong performance, the DNC's first-night viewership was down 22% compared to 2016. Biden's speech on the first night averaged 19.1 million viewers, while Obama's speech on the second night attracted 21.9 million viewers.