September 5, 2008 7:19 AM McCain TV Ratings Beat Obama in Preliminary Numbers By Andrew Krukowski Presidential candidate John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention drew more television viewers than his rival Barack Obama attracted at the Democratic party's event last week, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research. Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain’s speech ended the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama’s 4.3/7 average, according to overnight numbers from metered households in 55 U.S. markets measured by Nielsen. These ratings are preliminary, however, and are subject to change. NBC’s coverage of Sen. McCain’s speech started directly at the tail end of the opening game of NFL season, with the speech pulling in a 6.3 rating/10 share, topping Sen. Obama’s speech last week by 26%. That lead-in may have boosted audiences who last night turned out in droves to watch Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin introduce herself to the country. ABC’s showing of the McCain speech averaged a 4.5/7, down 2% from the same night of the Democratic convention last week, while CBS’ coverage took in a 3.4/5, an increase of 3%. (Editor: Baumann. Updated 7:31 a.m. to add Palin in third paragraph.) http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/09/mccain_tv_ratings_beat_obama_i.php
I'm not surprised by that at all. Children like shows with big furry mascots and a bunch of people dancing around the mascot acting like fools. So of course McCain beat out Obama, but did he beat out Barney?
Can't say I'm surprised (I had it on but was paying 0 attention to it, just because it came right on after the game and I was doing something on the computer and didn't change the channel), but I also can't really say that having more people watch has any real indication on anything either.
It was a joke. I was saying that McCain's ratings were because of children watching, also saying that he and those around him are like those from a kid's show like Barney.....just a joke.
MCCAIN SPEECH 10-11:15PM FOX NEWS - 9.1 MILLION NBC - 8.7 ABC - 6.0 CBS - 5.3 CNN - 4.8 MSNBC - 2.5 MSNBC got smoked again.
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/09/mccain-rating-1.html Breaking: McCain beats Obama by 500,000 John McCain has won the ratings race. The Republican nominee beat Democratic challenger Barack Obama's record-setting convention speech viewership by 500,000. McCain's address at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night was seen by about 38.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Obama received 38.4 million. That means McCain's speech is now the most-watched in convention history -- 41% higher than President Bush's acceptance speech four years ago, and 1% higher than Obama's address last week. Looking at the speech's audience demographics, McCain drew significantly more male viewers than Obama (16.2 million). McCain also drew more white viewers (32.2 million), while Obama was seen by more African Americans. Though anticipation has been running high for McCain's address, the speech also may have benefited slightly from a strong NFL lead-in on NBC. Initially Republicans feared McCain might have to compete with the game for viewers' attention. But the NFL match started early, then put about 13.6 million viewers on the doorstep of NBC's 10 p.m. coverage of McCain's speech. Still, NBC has aired the most-watched convention coverage among the broadcaster nets all week, and its numbers compared to rivals were not much different than on previous nights. In other words: the game may have helped, but it wasn't a major factor in McCain's massive viewership (even with the NBC receiving an NFL lead-in, Fox News is expected to win the network-by-network breakdown). Also, with interest in his running mate Sarah Palin spiking viewership for the RNC on Wednesday, the convention was able to gain some significant momentum after losing its first night to Hurricane Gustav coverage. McCain received 5% more viewers than his running mate. UPDATE: FOX NEWS: 9.1MILLION NBC: 8.7 MILLION ABC: 6.0 MILLION CBS: 5.3 MILLION CNN: 4.8 MILLION MSNBC: 2.5 MILLION (from 10 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.) UPDATE II: Obama gives O'Reilly a ratings bump Bill O'Reilly's pre-RNC coverage interview with Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday brought "The O'Reilly Factor" the second-highest ratings in its history -- 6.6 million viewers.
Why do I have the feeling that if McCain's convention was first and Obama's second, the roles would be flipped?
