Did More People Watch the RNC Than the DNC?

Because online streaming numbers are not tracked by an objective source, it's impossible to know.

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A graphic created by Students for Trump that compares the viewership of the Republican National Convention and Democratic National convention has gone viral on social media, even getting reshared by Donald Trump Jr.

As noted in the small text in the lower left-hand corner, the graphic shows only how many people watched the conventions on C-SPAN’s YouTube channel, which was one of many streaming platforms on which the conventions could be viewed and doesn’t take into account TV viewership on network and cable news.

Viewership of the DNC on television networks was higher than the RNC each of the four nights, with the DNC averaging 21.57 million and the and RNC 18.8 million viewers per night, respectively.  More specifically, 24.6 million viewers watched Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, and 23.8 million watched Trump’s. Nielsen Media Research, which is the firm that tracks and reports TV viewership, only collected data on the conventions’ viewership from PBS stations, broadcast networks, and cable networks. Some cord cutters are still captured by Nielsen’s figures, thanks to agreements with services like YouTube TV, but by and large online streaming numbers were not tracked by Nielson, leaving the Trump and Biden campaigns as the only source for how many views their conventions received across their streams on social media platforms, YouTube, and an array of other streaming services. 

Trump and his campaign self-reported that the RNC received 147.9 million views on television and online, a higher figure than the 122 million views Democrats said their convention received. These claims have not been independently verified and neither campaign has provided any information to substantiate their numbers. 

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 U.S. Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.

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  8. JMD

    I watched some of both, but have forgotten almost everything except for that insane performance by Kimberly Guilfoyle. It feels as if both were months ago. Maybe that's just severe pandemic blues setting in at this point. No sense of time anymore.

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  9. Tim Johnson

    The takeway: The claim from Students for Trump and then Trump Jr. is incredibly misleading.

    But hey, at least they're consistent in propagating this sort of nonsense.

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  10. Joe1776

    Always picking on the republicans. Why didn't you fact check this claim from Biden?

    https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-the-republican-convention-was-alright-but-just-wait-til-you-see-the-democratic-convention

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      Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

      @ Joe: Are you under the impression that Mr. Dent or TheDispatch.com has undertaken to write only about topics that suit you?

      The internet is wide and inviting. How about you do your own fact-check and publish it on your own website?

      Speaking for myself: Many, and probably most, media "fact-checking" columns are themselves reliably unreliable. Whether it's the WaPo or Breitbart, I don't bother to read most of those media fact-checks. But so far, I've been finding Mr. Dent's fact-checks to be concise, excellently sourced (with links), non-argumentative, and therefore useful. I was about to post a comment commending this one for those qualities, in fact, when I was distracted by your comment, Joe. Thanks for crystallizing my resolve.

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      1. Joe1776

        "@ Joe: Are you under the impression that Mr. Dent or TheDispatch.com has undertaken to write only about topics that suit you?"

        @ Bill: Are you under the impression that I have undertaken to comment only in ways that suit you?

        But since you asked first, my impression is they will write about whatever they would like and I am free to comment how I would like.

        BTW I agree with much of what you say about fact checkers.

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          Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

          True enough. I actually had no expectations about your comments. But you should be prepared to be frequently disappointed.

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          1. Joe1776

            I have been following politics for decades, frequently disappointed is the norm.

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      2. Kyle C

        I'm pretty sure Joe was making a joke. His link was to the satirical Babylon bee.

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          Angie

          I don't think so...if you read below

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          Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

          Then it should be easy to fact-check! :D

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        3. Tim Johnson

          I'd never seen that site before. Thankfully so: Incredibly unfunny.

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          1. JMD

            It used to be funnier. It's taken a meaner, more spiteful turn of late.

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          2. Joe1776

            Political humor is rarely funny when it targets your own party. It sounds like your experience was a tiny taste of what republicans have been force fed since everything from comedy to sports to movies and music has increasingly become political propaganda for the left.

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