McCain, Obama tied in TV audiences

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D930S7U81

McCain, Obama tied in TV audiences
By DAVID BAUDER
9-5-8

NEW YORK (AP) - As a television draw, John McCain was every bit the equal of Barack Obama.

The GOP presidential candidate attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his convention acceptance speech Thursday as Obama did before the Democrats last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

It marked the end of an astonishing run where more than 40 million people watched political speeches on three nights by Obama, McCain and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The Republican convention was the most-watched convention on television ever, beating a standard set by the Democrats a week earlier.

Three times in two weeks, political speeches were watched by more people than the "American Idol" finale, the Academy Awards and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics this year.

"It clearly suggests that a great number of Americans think that who will be the next president is important and worthy of their time," said Tom Rosenstiel, a former political reporter and director of the Project for Excellence in journalism.

Television ratings throughout the primary season had already indicated an intense interest in the election, but viewers clearly were more fascinated in the Democratic contest between Obama and Hillary Clinton than the Republican nomination fight.

This week's ratings, with an average of 34.5 million viewers watching the GOP convention over three days, proved people are becoming more interested in what the Republicans have to say. The Democrats had an average audience of 30.2 million over four days, Nielsen said.

"No one really thought they had it in them in terms of pulling off this amazing convention," said Jay Wallace, vice president for news and editorial at Fox News Channel. But Hurricane Gustav pulled people into the news networks over the weekend, he said. People were also intensely curious about McCain's pick of Palin as a running mate, he said.

Nielsen said that 38.9 million people watched McCain accept the GOP nomination Thursday on either ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel or MSNBC. PBS, which has a more imprecise estimate based on samples in a few big cities, said 3.5 million watched on its network.

Last week, Obama's speech in Denver was seen by 38.4 million on 10 different commercial networks, and an additional 4 million on PBS.

Add it up, and that's McCain, 42.4 million, to Obama, 42.4 million.

No one can really tell who truly had the biggest audience, since C-SPAN also showed the speeches, and Nielsen doesn't measure the cable channel's viewers. But if the presidential vote is this close on Nov. 4, it will be a long night.

McCain may have caught a break Thursday when the opening NFL game between the New York Giants and Washington Redskins finished a couple of minutes before the Republican took the stage, Wallace said.

More men (17.9 million) watched McCain speak than watched Obama (16.2 million), Nielsen said.

"The storylines this year have been so amazing," Wallace said. "It really got started with Hillary and Obama—that got everyone in middle America watching. They got caught up in the drama of it."

The numbers put to rest the thought that politics has been a turnoff and death for ratings, which has long been gospel at the TV networks, Rosenstiel said.

That has particularly applied to convention coverage, which broadcast networks have backed away from over the years because executives saw them as stage-managed events. ABC, CBS and NBC each added an hour this year to convention coverage, but it didn't halt one trend: Viewers are just as likely to watch the conventions on cable news networks.

Fox was the most-watched network all three nights of the GOP convention, duplicating its feat from the 2004 GOP convention. CNN was the most popular destination for Obama's speech.

Fox had 9.2 million viewers for McCain's speech, followed by NBC—which aired the football game—at 8.7 million. ABC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC followed in order, Nielsen said.

Thursday's edition of Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor," featuring the first part of Bill O'Reilly's interview with Barack Obama, was also the second-highest rated edition of his show ever, topped only by a night in March 2003 when the Iraq war was breaking out.

Barack Obama's show even tops 'Idol'

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/democratic_race/2008/08/29/2008-08-29_barack_obamas_show_even_tops_idol-4.html

Barack Obama's show even tops 'Idol'
By Richard Huff
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR
Friday, August 29th 2008

More than 38.3 million people tuned in to see presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama address the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.

That was the largest audience for the 2008 DNC this year, and bigger than the audiences for the "American Idol" finale or "The Academy Awards."

Sen. John Kerry drew just 24.4 million for his acceptance speech in 2004.

The audience watching Obama's nomination speech was actually larger than reported, though unmeasured. Nielsen's estimate counts 10 networks' coverage in the 10 p.m. hour, but not PBS and C-Span, which also carried the event.

"There has been enormous interest," CNN senior vice president David Bohrman said. "[The presidential race] has transitioned into a must-see TV event....People have become transfixed."

CNN had 8 million people watching. ABC averaged 6.6 million; NBC averaged 6.1 million; CBS, 4.7 million; the Fox News Channel, 4.2 million and MSNBC averaged 4.0 million.

Fox wins TV season on strong 'Idol' finish

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNdfZKB3-V53pLevJf93Jj4Cuw6AD90R0J8G3

Fox wins TV season on strong 'Idol' finish
By DAVID BAUDER
5-23-8

NEW YORK (AP) — With a strong finishing kick from "American Idol," Fox captured the distinction of America's most popular television network for the first time since it began operation in 1987.

Fox took that title from CBS. It was the only major broadcast network with more prime-time viewers than the previous season, a distinction helped by its telecast of the Super Bowl. Fox didn't show television's biggest event during the 2006-7 season.

The competition between the two Davids on "American Idol" — winner David Cook and runnerup David Archuleta — was seen by 31.7 million people on Wednesday, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research estimates. Last year's finale, won by Jordin Sparks, drew 30.7 million viewers.

It was a heartening finish for Fox executives, who admitted to concern when the ratings for TV's most popular show faded in recent weeks.

"It's part of the magic of the show," said Kevin Reilly, Fox entertainment president. "It's like a sporting event in that way, the competition takes on surprise and takes on drama. When it came down to the two Davids, it was a great story that created passion."

Although the finale's audience was the second highest in five years, it was slightly down from last year among 18-to-49-year-old viewers, an indication that the "American Idol" audience is aging.

Fox averaged 11.1 million viewers in prime-time this season through Tuesday, up 7 percent from last year. The numbers will probably inch up when the "American Idol" finale is figured in.

CBS was second with 10.5 million viewers. It had the sharpest drop among the big broadcast networks, at 16 percent. Analysts said CBS was particularly hurt by the television writers strike, when it relied heavily on reruns that didn't do as strongly in the ratings as the network anticipated.

ABC was third with 10 million viewers (down 7 percent) and NBC finished fourth with 8.9 million (down 9 percent). The troubled CW network was down 19 percent, with 2.6 million viewers, and faces the loss of professional wrestling next season, one of its most popular programs.

The historic victory left Reilly only mildly excited. That's because Fox cultivates a young, hip image and concentrates its business on the 18-to-49-year-old demographic (where it was the top network for the fourth year in a row).

"We want as many people watching Fox as possible," Reilly said. "We have to be mindful, we have to keep our brand rooted in what it has been historically. We're not looking to turn into CBS."

CBS traditionally has the oldest audience of the major networks.