During the first night of the Republican National Convention last week, Fox News held a commanding audience lead over its competitors, both cable and broadcast. But could the network’s left-leaning cable competitors capitalize with their own win on the first night of the Democrats’ convention?
Not quite.
According to the overnight ratings, MSNBC was narrowly defeated by its parent NBC in overall viewership and was a distant second in the key 25-54 age demographic — also to NBC — during the prime time 10-11 p.m. hour Tuesday night. The race was tight from third through fifth, with last week’s winner Fox News falling behind CBS.
DAY 1 OF DNC COVERAGE – JULIAN CASTRO, MICHELLE OBAMA
10-11 p.m. coverage
NBC: 5,021,551 viewers (1,929,345 in 25-54)
MSNBC: 4,106,622 viewers (1,431,929 in 25-54)
CNN: 3,887,789 viewers (1,367,998 in 25-54)
ABC: 3,236,553 viewers (1,142,927 in 25-54)
CBS: 3,268,520 viewers (1,056,844 in 25-54)
FNC: 2,397,710 viewers (550,149 in 25-54)
*Note: NBC went from 10-11:06PM, ABC from 10-11:08PM and CBS from 10-11:07PM
MSNBC took first place in the ratings race among cable news networks and saw a 53-percent audience increase over its 2008 coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo., which was plagued by controversy over the roles Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews played in the coverage.
8-11 p.m. prime time coverage
MSNBC: 3,298,273 viewers (1,067,970 in 25-54)
CNN: 3,003,298 viewers (1,002,048 in 25-54)
FNC: 2,515,003 viewers (554,294 in 25-54)