Viewership Highlights of the Republican National Convention 2023

Viewership of the Republican National Convention

The final night of the Republican National Convention, which was highlighted by former President Donald J. Trump’s first public address since a recent assassination attempt, attracted an impressive 25.4 million viewers on Thursday night. This viewership spanned across more than a dozen cable and broadcast networks, according to data from Nielsen.

Notably, this figure marks an increase compared to the final night of the R.N.C. in 2020, which garnered 23.8 million viewers. However, it falls short of the 32.2 million viewers who tuned in for Mr. Trump’s acceptance speech during the fourth night of the 2016 convention. Nielsen’s data reveals that viewership peaked approximately 15 minutes into Mr. Trump’s address, with over 28 million viewers engaged at that moment.

Among the various networks, Fox News led the viewership by a significant margin, attracting 10.4 million viewers during the critical 10 p.m. hour, thereby setting a new cable news convention viewership record. In contrast, its competitors struggled to keep pace: CNN managed to draw in 2.2 million viewers during the same hour, while MSNBC, catering to a more liberal audience, recorded just 1.3 million viewers. Among broadcast networks, NBC stood out as the leader in ratings.

Mr. Trump’s lengthy address, which exceeded 90 minutes and concluded just after midnight on the East Coast, set a modern record for the length of a convention speech. As the night progressed and the speech continued, audience engagement began to wane. During the initial half-hour of his address, as Mr. Trump vividly recounted the details of the recent assassination attempt, about 14.4 million viewers were tuned into the three major cable news networks, with a substantial majority of that viewership coming from Fox News.

However, as the speech approached its final half-hour, starting at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, the collective audience for cable news dropped to 11.4 million viewers, representing a notable 21 percent decline compared to the previous hour. Overall, while the viewership totals for each night of the 2016 convention surpassed those of this year’s event, this week’s R.N.C. outperformed the 2020 convention ratings on three out of four nights, including the pivotal Thursday night.

It’s important to note that Nielsen’s tracking encompasses viewership from television sets in the United States, which includes streaming data, but does not account for viewing that occurs on mobile phones or laptops.