The Republican National Convention’s second night, headlined by first lady Melania Trump, drew a larger audience than the opening night’s broadcast.
The GOP’s speaker lineup on Tuesday pulled 18 million viewers between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to early Nielsen Media Research data. A week ago, Nielsen initially found Democrats attracted 18.2 million people, but that figure was later revised to 19.2 million once all the firm’s numbers were crunched.
“We need my husband to be our president and commander in chief for four more years,” Trump told a small crowd gathered in the White House’s Rose Garden on Tuesday. “I believe that we need my husband’s leadership now more than ever.”
On Monday, 17 million viewers turned on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC to watch the Republican confab’s opening night, a mostly virtual affair, during the corresponding time period. Last week, 19.7 million people switched on the same broadcast or cable news networks to see Democrats’ programming. That night’s schedule culminated in former first lady Michelle Obama’s keynote address.
Nielsen’s findings don’t include either convention’s online audiences. On Monday, the Trump campaign touted that 23.3 million people clicked on one of its digital livestreams. In contrast, 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s team talked up its additional 10.2 million virtual viewers last Monday.
While Monday wasn’t a win for the president, it was a victory for Fox News. The network notched up its highest-rated delivery for a Republican convention’s opening night in cable news history.
