Coming out of the final night of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., the Fox News Channel notched its third consecutive Republican National Convention overall ratings win, besting its cable and broadcast competition.
Fox News widened its lead for coverage of the acceptance speech by the GOP’s presidential nominee over the 2008 convention, but Mitt Romney’s speech attracted smaller audiences than John McCain’s speech did on every network.
NBC suffered the hardest hit, primarily because the network didn’t have the benefit of broadcasting the NFL season opener, as it did in 2008.
10-11PM Coverage
FNC: 9,057,093 viewers (2,575,383 in 25-54)
· Vs. ’08, down 1%ABC: 4,442,908,000 viewers (1,612,407 in 25-54)
· Vs. ’08, down 26%NBC: 3,847,498 viewers (1,463,902 in 25-54)
· Vs. ’08, down 56%CBS: 3,729,691 viewers (1,506,553 in 25-54)
· Vs. ’08, down 30%CNN: 2,327,376 viewers (903,838 in 25-54)
· Vs. ’08, down 52%MSNBC: 1,876,459 viewers (625,712 in 25-54)
· Vs. ’08, down 25%*Note: NBC went from 10-11:19PM, ABC from 10-11:22PM and CBS from 10-11:21PM
Fox News also strengthened its spot in the cable ratings war race against its chief competitors MSNBC and CNN. CNN scored a second place victory over MSNBC.
8-11PM Primetime Coverage
FNC: 6,609,548 viewers (1,627,349 in 25-54)
CNN: 1,657,584 viewers (580,648 in 25-54)
MSNBC: 1,567,633 viewers (464,809 in 25-54)
All three cable outlets topped their convention-long peak viewership numbers on Thursday night.
PEAKS
*FNC peaked at 10:45-11PM ET with 9.4 million viewers and 2.8 million in Adults 25-54
*MSNBC peaked from 11:15-11:30PM ET with 2.478 million viewers and 847,000 in Adults 25-54.
*CNN peaked from 10:45-11PM ET with 2.454 million viewers and during 10:30-10:45 with 980,000 in Adults 25-54.