Comparing The Ratings Biden’s Closing Speech To Trump’s Closing Speech
Below is a table showing a breakdown of the ratings of Biden’s closing speech at the DNC and Trump’s closing speech at the RNC by network.
Network
|
Event
|
A25-54
|
A18-49
|
A18-34
|
Total Viewers
| |
FNC Democracy 2020: RNC
|
FOX News
|
RNC
|
1.76
|
1.19
|
0.69
|
9.043
|
America’s Choice 2020 (10pm)
|
CNN
|
DNC
|
1.40
|
1.02
|
0.58
|
5.569
|
MSNBC Special Coverage
|
MSNBC
|
DNC
|
0.92
|
0.62
|
0.33
|
5.676
|
America’s Choice 2020 (10pm)
|
CNN
|
RNC
|
0.63
|
0.50
|
0.38
|
2.196
|
FNC Democracy 2020: DNC Convention
|
FOX News
|
DNC
|
0.54
|
0.35
|
0.25
|
2.968
|
MSNBC Special Coverage (10:22pm)
|
MSNBC
|
RNC
|
0.32
|
0.24
|
0.17
|
1.828
|
And here is a table with the totals for all key demos. Keep in mind, the A25-54 demo is most valuable for advertisers on cable news channels.
A25-54
|
A18-49
|
A18-34
|
Total Viewers
| |
Biden Speech
|
2.86
|
1.99
|
1.16
|
14.213
|
Trump Speech
|
2.71
|
1.93
|
1.24
|
13.067
|
The highest-rated program this week in all key demos was Donald Trump’s speech as covered by FOX News. Viewers overwhelmingly chose FOX News as their network of choice for the speech, with the ratings on CNN and MSNBC being significantly lower. This is a stark contrast from last week’s DNC coverage, where FOX News lagged behind. While viewing habits indicate many see CNN as a network ideologically in between FOX News and MSNBC, its ratings trajectory has been more similar to the liberal MSNBC than the conservative FOX News when it comes to DNC and RNC coverage.
Weekly Rankings
Below is a table of every program on CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC that aired between 7pm and 11pm this week. It also includes overruns from the 10pm hour of RNC coverage, as well as ratings for The Ingraham Angle, which typically airs at 10pm but has been pushed to a later hour instead.
Below is a table of every program on CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC that aired between 7pm and 11pm this week. It also includes overruns from the 10pm hour of RNC coverage, as well as ratings for The Ingraham Angle, which typically airs at 10pm but has been pushed to a later hour instead.
Network
|
Day
|
A25-54
|
A18-49
|
A18-34
|
Total Viewers
| |
FNC Democracy 2020: RNC
|
FOX News
|
Thursday
|
1.76
|
1.19
|
0.69
|
9.043
|
FNC Democracy 2020: RNC
|
FOX News
|
Tuesday
|
1.35
|
0.94
|
0.53
|
7.899
|
Hannity
|
FOX News
|
Thursday
|
1.33
|
0.90
|
0.56
|
7.785
|
FNC Democracy 2020: RNC
|
FOX News
|
Monday
|
1.30
|
0.89
|
0.54
|
7.063
|
Hannity
|
FOX News
|
Monday
|
1.19
|
0.81
|
0.49
|
6.838
|
Hannity
|
FOX News
|
Tuesday
|
1.18
|
0.77
|
0.53
|
7.687
|
FNC Democracy 2020: RNC
|
FOX News
|
Wednesday
|
1.14
|
0.80
|
0.38
|
6.973
|
Hannity
|
FOX News
|
Wednesday
|
1.14
|
0.74
|
0.40
|
7.088
|
Tucker Carlson Tonight
|
FOX News
|
Thursday
|
1.05
|
0.72
|
0.46
|
6.266
|
Tucker Carlson Tonight
|
FOX News
|
Tuesday
|
0.95
|
0.65
|
0.38
|
6.098
|
Tucker Carlson Tonight
|
FOX News
|
Monday
|
0.93
|
0.63
|
0.37
|
5.719
|
The Ingraham Angle (11pm)
|
FOX News
|
Monday
|
0.92
|
0.61
|
0.38
|
4.820
|
Tucker Carlson Tonight
|
FOX News
|
Wednesday
|
0.91
|
0.60
|
0.31
|
5.850
|
The Ingraham Angle (11:16pm)
|
FOX News
|
Tuesday
|
0.87
|
0.57
|
0.27
|
4.616
|
The Ingraham Angle (11:52pm)
|
FOX News
|
Thursday
|
0.79
|
0.50
|
0.24
|
4.043
|
The Ingraham Angle (11:25pm)
|
FOX News
|
Wednesday
|
0.67
|
0.44
|
0.19
|
3.849
|
America’s Choice 2020 (10pm)
|
CNN
|
Thursday
|
0.63
|
0.50
|
0.38
|
2.196
|
America’s Choice 2020 (9pm)
|
CNN
|
Monday
|
0.55
|
0.41
|
0.26
|
2.281
|
America’s Choice 2020 (10pm)
|
CNN
|
Tuesday
|
0.51
|
0.39
|
0.31
|
2.134
|
America’s Choice 2020 (9pm)
|
CNN
|
Tuesday
|
0.50
|
0.37
|
0.30
|
2.124
|
America’s Choice 2020 (10pm)
|
CNN
|
Monday
|
0.50
|
0.36
|
0.25
|
2.023
|
The Story
|
FOX News
|
Monday
|
0.49
|
0.32
|
0.16
|
3.201
|
The Story
|
FOX News
|
Thursday
|
0.49
|
0.31
|
0.15
|
3.224
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8:30pm)
|
CNN
|
Monday
|
0.46
|
0.34
|
0.16
|
2.067
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8:30pm)
|
CNN
|
Tuesday
|
0.45
|
0.33
|
0.25
|
1.815
|
The Story
|
FOX News
|
Wednesday
|
0.45
|
0.27
|
0.10
|
3.107
|
America’s Choice 2020 (9pm)
|
CNN
|
Thursday
|
0.43
|
0.35
|
0.27
|
1.758
|
The Story
|
FOX News
|
Tuesday
|
0.43
|
0.29
|
0.13
|
3.038
|
America’s Choice 2020 (10pm)
|
CNN
|
Wednesday
|
0.40
|
0.29
|
0.18
|
1.525
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8pm)
|
CNN
|
Tuesday
|
0.37
|
0.24
|
0.14
|
1.562
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8:30pm)
|
CNN
|
Thursday
|
0.36
|
0.28
|
0.21
|
1.551
|
America’s Choice 2020 (9pm)
|
CNN
|
Wednesday
|
0.36
|
0.25
|
0.14
|
1.512
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8pm)
|
CNN
|
Monday
|
0.36
|
0.24
|
0.11
|
1.593
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8pm)
|
CNN
|
Thursday
|
0.34
|
0.24
|
0.14
|
1.399
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8pm)
|
CNN
|
Wednesday
|
0.34
|
0.24
|
0.13
|
1.472
|
Erin Burnett OutFront
|
CNN
|
Monday
|
0.34
|
0.24
|
0.12
|
1.438
|
MSNBC Special Coverage (10:22pm)
|
MSNBC
|
Thursday
|
0.32
|
0.24
|
0.17
|
1.828
|
Erin Burnett OutFront
|
CNN
|
Thursday
|
0.32
|
0.20
|
0.09
|
1.371
|
MSNBC Special Coverage
|
MSNBC
|
Tuesday
|
0.31
|
0.22
|
0.08
|
1.729
|
Erin Burnett OutFront
|
CNN
|
Wednesday
|
0.31
|
0.20
|
0.10
|
1.444
|
MSNBC Special Coverage (9pm)
|
MSNBC
|
Thursday
|
0.30
|
0.22
|
0.14
|
1.769
|
America’s Choice 2020 (8:32pm)
|
CNN
|
Wednesday
|
0.29
|
0.21
|
0.12
|
1.301
|
Erin Burnett OutFront
|
CNN
|
Tuesday
|
0.29
|
0.18
|
0.10
|
1.212
|
MSNBC Special Coverage
|
MSNBC
|
Monday
|
0.28
|
0.20
|
0.09
|
1.675
|
The ReidOut (7:34pm)
|
MSNBC
|
Wednesday
|
0.28
|
0.19
|
0.15
|
1.922
|
The ReidOut (7:34pm)
|
MSNBC
|
Thursday
|
0.28
|
0.17
|
0.12
|
1.863
|
MSNBC Special Coverage
|
MSNBC
|
Wednesday
|
0.27
|
0.19
|
0.12
|
1.499
|
The ReidOut
|
MSNBC
|
Tuesday
|
0.25
|
0.15
|
0.07
|
1.681
|
The ReidOut
|
MSNBC
|
Monday
|
—
|
0.15
|
—
|
1.795
|
In its later hour, The Ingraham Angle’s ratings were by and large dependent on when the airing started. While it likely saw a bit of a boost from Trump’s speech on Thursday, Wednesday’s 11:25pm start time seemed to alienate some viewers.
In non-RNC news, the calls to fire Tucker Carlson across social media did not seem to hurt its ratings. There were sizable rises in all key demos from the Wednesday airing of his show to the Thursday airing, which was the highest-rated episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight all summer. Much of this likely had to do with the RNC, so the real test will come next week.
Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on these ratings!