First night of DNC coverage draws 26.25M

TV coverage of the Democratic National Convention got off to a strong start on Tuesday, at least compared to the 2008 convention.
 
During common coverage of the DNC across nine networks from 10 to 11 p.m., the convention averaged 26.25 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, up from 22.3 million for the first night of the 2008 convention (which aired on eight networks).
 
That was also better than the 22.3 million total viewers the first night of the Republican National Convention averaged across nine networks last week.
 
On Tuesday night ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, BET, CNN, Current TV, Fox News Channel and MSNBC all aired coverage of the convention.
 
The first night of the DNC, which aired from Charlotte and featured speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, also averaged 3.16 million viewers 18-34, 6.92 million viewers 35-54 and 15.22 million viewers 55-plus.
 

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