Second Night of 2016 Republican National Convention Draws 19.8 Million Viewers

An estimated 19.8 million people tuned in to watch the second night of the 2016 Republican National Convention on Tuesday, July 19. Day two of the convention was carried live from Cleveland, Ohio, across seven commercially-supported networks and featured speeches by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the children of Donald Trump. On this night, Trump was formally nominated as the Republican candidate for President of the United States.

While coverage varied by network, all seven aired live coverage from approximately 10 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET.

In terms of the social nature of the convention, 1.0 million Tweets were sent by 325,000 people in the U.S. about the second night of the “Republican National Convention,” according to Nielsen Social. Twitter activity spiked at 10:40 p.m. ET, when 5,900 Tweets were sent in one minute during Ben Carson’s speech.

The chart below highlights the sum of the average audience for these commercially-supported networks during common coverage.

2016 Networks Included:

Day 1 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, FOXNC and MSNBC
Day 2 – ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, FOXNC and MSNBC

2012 Networks Included:

Day 2 – ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, CRNT, MSNBC, NBC and PBS
Day 3 – ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, CRNT, MSNBC, NBC and PBS