Here are last night's convention ratings

[book_worm]

NBC--3.3/6 share
CBS and ABC tied 2.1/4 share

Compare those to last week on Tuesday at Dem convention:
NBC 4.1/ 7 share
ABC 2.9/ 5 share
CBS 2.4/ 4 share

So Dems attracted a total on the broadcast networks of 9.4 rating last Tuesday with a 16 share, compared to the GOP on Tuesday attracting 7.5 rating and 14 share.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. And how many RNC viewers were only tuned in to watch the train wreck?

:P

[leveymg]

2. Thanks for this. What do these numbers mean?

[maseman]

14. The first number is a rating and the second is an audience share

The first number is a total population %. So NBC had a rating or total population % of 3.3%. The share is the % of people who are currently watching TV at that time. So the NBC share is 6% of people who were watching TV were watching the convention.

So in essence the Dem convention last Tuesday probably had about 2.5 million more viewers on NBC than last night's numbers. I say this because the Persons 2+ population is about 300,000,000 people so 1% is about 3,000,000 people.

[No Elephants]

3. And the Dems were not in the midst of a fresh baby bump scandal, nor was the VP someone new to most

everyone. What Dems had to say must have been more interesting. I hope so.

[yourguide]

4. what were the Monday numbers from last week just for fun?

comparing opening night to opening night.

[book_worm]

5. ok here are monday's numbers

All of the Big Three networks covered the Democratic National Convention at 10 p.m. NBC led the way with a 3.4/8, followed by ABC, 2.7/4, and CBS, 2.4/4.

[shraby]

6. These numbers are meaningless without

the grand total to take the share from. Is it tens, thousands, millions, billions or quadrillions? The grand total of viewers means a lot here.

deited for splleing.

[Seen the light]

7. Millions n/t

[book_worm]

8. I believe it means millions of households and what share or percentage of televisions in use at

the time. But it can be googled to see exactly what a rating and a share stand for.

[shraby]

13. I know it's millions, but how many millions is

the starting point? That was my point.

[onenote]

9. ratings/shares translated into numbers

There are in the neighborhood of 120 million television households in the US. Each "ratings" point represents 1 percent of those households. So an aggregate 7.5 rating is around 9 million homes tuned in. The "share" represents the percentage of sets actually in use tuned to the program - i.e. 14 percent of the sets in use tuned into the convention.

I think that's right.

[book_worm]

10. ok that sounds right.

[geek tragedy]

11. How about cable? n/t

[book_worm]

12. don't know.

[Born_A_Truman]

15. GOP Convention Broadcast TV Ratings Lower than '04, Hillary Last Week

Cable ratings won't be in until later today.

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/09/gop_convention_broadcast_tv_ra.php

(snipped)

According to preliminary national data from Nielsen Media Research, the three broadcast networks combined racked up a viewership of less than 11 million viewers, compared with the 14.8 million viewers who watched the networks’ coverage on the comparable night of the GOP gathering in 2004. That's also down from the 12.48 million who watched Senator Hillary Clinton’s call for unity among Democrats last week at that party's convention in Denver.

Two factors are worth noting: Hurricane Gustav's assault on Louisiana had essentially set back the Republicans’ attempts to get momentum by a day. Also, Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman’s speech, which closed the GOP show in St. Paul, Minn. Tuesday night, was not expected to be a stem-winder—and it lived up to expectations.

All three networks’ convention specials at 10 p.m. lost viewers from their lead-ins.
NBC averaged 4.93 million viewers from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., down from an 11.1 million lead-in for summer hit “America’s Got Talent.”

CBS finished second among the convention specials with an average 3.04 million viewers, down from 6.34 million for summer staple “Big Brother 10.”