Two nights into the Democratic National Convention and viewers stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic appear tapped out.
Viewership for the first and second nights of the Democratic convention fell dramatically from the same time frame in 2016 when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the Democratic presidential ticket, according to Nielsen Media Research. Only 6.13 million people tuned into broadcasts simulcast on CBS, ABC, and NBC during the first two nights of the 2020 convention, marking a 48% drop from four years ago, Nielsen reported.
The first two nights of the convention featured speeches by former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Joe Biden accepted the party’s nomination on Tuesday with his wife, Jill Biden, by his side.
TJ Ducklo, the national press secretary for Biden’s campaign, defended the sluggish broadcast numbers and noted that digital viewership was up as the way people watch content has shifted to digital streaming formats in recent years.
“28.9 million Americans tuned in to @DemConvention last night across TV & digital platforms, up from 2016 & shattering the previous record for digital streams, which totaled 10.2m even as numbers still come in,” Ducklo tweeted on Tuesday. “We are producing a digital convention, and people are watching.”
The Republican National Convention is set for the last week of August, and President Trump has suggested some of the live events will take place on the White House lawn, where a group of supporters may be present.
“I’ll probably be giving my speech at the White House because it is a great place,” Trump told the New York Post. “We could have quite a group of people. It’s very big, a very big lawn. We could have a big group of people.”
