For Second Consecutive Night, NBC Beats Combined Ratings of ABC and CBS While Doubling the Ratings of Each across the Board
NBC Is the Only Network to Grow its Audience Every Night of the Republican National Convention
NBC News Grows +24% in Total Viewers, +21% in Demo from 2012 RNC Night Three
CLEVELAND, OH (July 21, 2016) – For the third night in a row, more Americans turned to NBC News for coverage of the 2016 Republican National Convention than any other broadcast television network. According to Nielsen Media Research data, the NBC News coverage (10p-11:17p) averaged 5.1 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by +2.7 million (+118%) and CBS by +2.5 million (+96%). NBC delivered a 3.2/6 Household rating/share, ahead of CBS’ 1.7/3 and ABC’s 1.6/3.
In the key news demographic of A25-54, NBC News averaged 1.8 million A25-54 viewers, doubling the reach of both ABC (+121%) and CBS (+142%). In A18-49, NBC also doubled the audience of ABC and CBS, averaging a 1.1 rating, beating ABC by +130% and CBS by +136%.
NBC is the only network to grow its total viewer audience each night of the Republican National Convention. NBC News was also the most-watched broadcast network for the first two nights of the GOP convention. A combined 7.1 million people watched NBC News and MSNBC in the 10p hour on Wednesday night.
NBC was the only network to grow across the board from night three of the 2012 Republican National Convention. The third night of the 2016 convention represented a +24% increase in total viewers, a +21% increase in A25-54 and a +7% increase in A18-49.
Lester Holt anchored NBC News’s primetime coverage of the Republican National convention, joined by Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd. NBC News correspondents Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell, Hallie Jackson and Katy Tur also contributed to the primetime hour, along with political commentator Nicolle Wallace. Holt will anchor NBC News’s primetime coverage from live inside the convention hall through Thursday.
July 20, 2016:
| Total Viewers | A25-54 Rating | A25-54 Viewers | A18-49 Rating | A18-49 Viewers | |
| NBC | 5.071 | 1.5 | 1.774 | 1.1 | 1.422 |
| CBS | 2.590 | 0.6 | 0.733 | 0.5 | 0.603 |
| ABC | 2.326 | 0.7 | 0.804 | 0.5 | 0.617 |
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ABOUT NBC NEWS
More Americans watch NBC News than any news organization in the world. NBC News is a global leader in news across all broadcast and digital platforms. Its leading and award-winning television news broadcasts include NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, TODAY, Meet the Press, and Dateline, as well as primetime specials and breaking news reports. The rapidly-growing NBC News Digital Group, along with the SiriusXM TODAY Show Radio channel, provide continuous content to consumers wherever they are, whenever they want it. NBC News also operates Peacock Productions, an award-winning in-house production company, and the NBC NewsChannel affiliate news service.
NBC News is part of the NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corporation. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit www.NBCUniversal.com.
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For more information contact:
Jake Urbanski
NBC News
212-664-3211
