Gov. Sarah PalinÂ’s speech Wednesday night of the Republican National Convention drew 37 million viewers, which is more than those who watched Democratic vice president Joe Biden or potential first lady Michelle Obama or even Hillary Clinton during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.According to Nielsen ratings, PalinÂ’s number was just 1.1 million viewers shy of Democratic presidential candidate Barack ObamaÂ’s record-breaking speech at the Democratic meeting Aug. 28, according to the most recent Nielsen Media Research ratings.
Day three of the convention, which featured not only Palin, but former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, received the highest viewership so far. Tuesday — the first “official” day of the convention since Monday’s events were canceled due to Hurricane Gustav — drew 21.5 million viewers.
Women viewers outnumbered men on Wednesday night, 19.5 million to 16.4 million, consistent with the pattern since last week. On day three of the Democratic convention, when Joe Biden accepted the nomination for vice president and Bill Clinton stirred the audience at Pepsi Center, 12 million adult women watched compared to 9.7 million adult men.
During day one of the Democratic convention, Michelle Obama garnered 22 million total viewers, while Sen. Hillary Clinton got 26 million viewers the next night, and on day three, Biden had 24 million viewers.
Meanwhile, FOX NewsÂ’ coverage of TuesdayÂ’s speeches surpassed all others, broadcast or cable, according to Nielsen, with 6.2 million viewers in the 10 p.m. ET hour. That was more than NBC, which averaged 4.5 million viewers; CNN, which averaged 3.2 million viewers; ABC with 3.1 million viewers; CBS with 2.9 million and MSNBC with 1.6 million viewers for its 10 p.m. coverage on Tuesday.
Overall RNC viewership Tuesday night — 21.5 million — was about 4 million fewer than watched last Tuesday’s Democratic National Convention, which featured Hillary Clinton. Tuesday’s RNC lineup included remarks by President George Bush via satellite, former Sen. Fred Thompson and Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman.