Trump tops Clinton on speech ratings



07/29/16 03:59 PM EDT

Donald Trump has defeated Hillary Clinton — at least when it comes to TV ratings for their acceptance speeches.

Last Thursday at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, 34.9 million people watched the Republican nominee across broadcast and cable networks.

This Thursday in Philadelphia, 33.3. million viewers saw Hillary Clinton give her historic speech as the first woman nominated for president by a major party, according to preliminary results.Trump had boasted last week that "no one would watch" the Democratic National Convention and hailed the ratings of the Republican convention on Twitter. But after the Democrats beat the Republicans the first three nights in total viewers, Trump appeared to back away from his claim on the production of the GOP gathering last week.

"I didn’t produce the show — I just showed up for the final speech on Thursday,” he told The New York Times on Wednesday.

As for the ratings race between the broadcast and cable news networks, CNN won handily once again to sweep the week, averaging 7.5 million viewers during Clinton's speech in the 10:00 p.m. hour.

MSNBC finished second for the second straight night, with 5.3. million viewers. NBC took third, with 4.5 million total viewers.

For the total eight nights of coverage of the two conventions, Fox News won the overall race in viewers, averaging 4.48 million. CNN was second, with 4.28 million, but won in the 25–54 demographic, 1.38 million to 1.01 million.


http://thehill.com/media/289823-trum...speech-ratings