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McCain Beats Obama in TV Ratings [Updated x2]

By SusanUnPC on September 5, 2008 at 5:07 PM in Current Affairs

UPDATE 2:
“It was the most-watched speech in
convention history.”
- Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News
_______________

In my story yesterday, “Sarah Palin Wallops Joe Biden in TV Ratings,” we learned that Sarah Palin topped Joe Biden’s ratings by 13,000,000 viewers, and very nearly tied Barack Obama’s viewership.

Now John McCain has topped Barack Obama. “McCain TV Ratings Beat Obama in Preliminary Numbers” at TVWeek.com, via Memeorandum.com: “Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain’s speech ended the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama’s 4.3/7 average. …”

UPDATE: “Breaking: McCain beats Obama by 500,000,” from The Live Feed, a TV industry blog:

John McCain has won the ratings race.

The Republican nominee beat Democratic challenger Barack Obama’s record-setting convention speech viewership by 500,000.

Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain’s speech ended the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama’s 4.3/7 average, according to overnight numbers from metered households in 55 U.S. markets measured by Nielsen. These ratings are preliminary, however, and are subject to change.

NBC’s coverage of Sen. McCain’s speech started directly at the tail end of the opening game of NFL season, with the speech pulling in a 6.3 rating/10 share, topping Sen. Obama’s speech last week by 26%. That lead-in may have boosted audiences who last night turned out in droves to watch Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin introduce herself to the country.

ABC’s showing of the McCain speech averaged a 4.5/7, down 2% from the same night of the Democratic convention last week, while CBS’ coverage took in a 3.4/5, an increase of 3%.