NBC had a slight edge Monday night in its coverage of the Democratic National Convention opening session. In the 10 p.m.-11 p.m. EST time slot, it garnered a 3.3 household rating/6 share, versus 3.2/5 for CBS and 3.1/5 for ABC, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Also, CNN rated a 1.8/3 and Fox News Channel a 0.9/2. MSNBC, with coverage from 10:30 p.m.-11 p.m., got a 0.7/1.
The ratings are off from the comparable coverage in 2000; that coverage, though, was generally more extensive than this year’s. In 2000, NBC was No. 1 in household ratings, with a 4.8/9. ABC had a 4.5/11; CNN, 1.4/2; MSNBC, 0.5/1. CBS wasn’t included in the Nielsen ratings because its coverage was included in 48 Hours that year. Fox News Channel is the only network to show an improvement this year; in 2000, it earned a 0.4/1.
On Monday night, NBC was first in total homes, with more than 3.6 million. CBS had nearly 3.5 million; ABC, over 3.3 million; CNN, 1.9 million; Fox News, just over 1 million; and MSNBC 763,000.
CBS won in total viewers, with more than 4.55 million, followed closely by NBC with 4.53 million. ABC and CNN had 4.4 million and 2.54 million, respectively. Fox News logged 1.44 million viewers, MSNBC 1.01 million.
