An estimated 23 million people tuned in to watch the opening night of the 2016 Republican National Convention on Monday, July 18. Day one of the convention was carried live from Cleveland, Ohio, across seven commercially-supported networks and featured speeches by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Melania Trump.
While coverage varied by network, all seven aired live coverage from approximately 10 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET.
In terms of the social nature of the convention, 1.6 million Tweets were sent by 449,000 people in the U.S. about the first night of the “Republican National Convention,” according to Nielsen Social. Twitter activity spiked at 10:35 p.m. ET, when 9,900 Tweets were sent in one minute during Melania Trump’s speech.
The chart below highlights the sum of the average audience for these commercially-supported networks during common coverage.
| Sum of Networks Live + Same Day | ||
|---|---|---|
| Day 1-July 18, 2016 | ||
| Rating | Number of Viewers | |
| All Households | 14.8 | 17,243,000 |
| Persons 2+ | 7.8 | 23,019,000 |
| Persons 18-34 | 2.8 | 1,924,000 |
| Persons 35-54 | 7.4 | 5,915,000 |
| Persons 55+ | 16.6 | 14,246,000 |
2016 Networks Included:
Day 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, FOXNC, and MSNBC
| Sum of Networks Live + Same Day | ||
|---|---|---|
| Day 2*-Aug. 28, 2012 | ||
| Rating | Number of Viewers | |
| Persons 2+ | 7.7 | 22,301,000 |
| *Day 1 events postponed due to Hurricane Isaac. |
2012 Networks Included:
Day 2 – ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, CRNT, MSNBC, NBC and PBS
