WEB POSTING from The Nielsen Company
September 7, 2012

Closing Night of Democratic National Convention Draws 35.7 million Viewers

An estimated 35.7 million people watched the third and final night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention on Thursday, September 6. The closing night of the DNC was carried live from Charlotte, North Carolina across thirteen networks and featured a speech by President Barack Obama.

While coverage varied by network, all thirteen aired live coverage from approximately 10:00 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. The chart below highlights the sum of the average audience for these networks during common coverage.

2012 Democratic National Convention
Sum of Networks Live + Same Day
  Day 1-Sept 4 2012 Day 2-Sept 5, 2012 Day 3-Sept 6, 2012
  Rating Number of Viewers Rating Number of Viewers Rating Number of Viewers
All Households 17.3 19,707,000 16.7 19,050,000 22.7 25,901,000
Persons 2+ 9.1 26,245,000 8.8 25,121,000 12.3 35,716,000
Persons 18-34 4.7 3,163,000 4.1 2,790,000 8.0 5,424,000
Persons 35-54 8.6 6,923,000 8.3 6,710,000 13.1 10,491,000
Persons 55+ 19.5 15,219,000 19 14,807,000 23.0 17,970,000

Networks Included:
Day 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, BET, CNN, Current TV, FOX News, MSNBC and PBS
Day 2 – ABC, CBS, CNN, Current TV, FOX News, MSNBC and PBS
Day 3 – ABC, CBS, NBC, BET, CNN, CNBC, Current TV, FOX News, MSNBC, MUN2, PBS, TV One and Univision

2008 Democratic National Convention
Sum of Networks Live + Same Day
  Day 1
Aug 25, 2008
Day 2
Aug 26, 2008
Day 3
Aug 27, 2008
Day 4
Aug 28, 2008
  Rating Number of Viewers Rating Number of Viewers Rating Number of Viewers Rating Number of Viewers
Persons 2+ 7.8 22,297,000 9 25,974,000 8.4 24,029,000 13.4 38,379,000

2008 Networks Included:
Days 1, 2, 3 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, BET, TV One
Day 4 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, BET, TV One, Univision, Telemundo