After the Sound and Fury . . . : ABC Wins Convention Viewing Race

National audience estimates for closing night of the GOP convention showed Friday that ABC’s coverage won the evening, and the ratings race. But it was a narrow victory over NBC.

ABC, first in ratings with its coverage of the 1984 GOP convention, did it again with the 1988 model by averaging a 6.7 for the four nights. NBC was close behind with a 6.3, while CBS was a distant third with a 5.7 average.

Each ratings point represents 886,000 homes.

From an image standpoint, the Nielsen news was particularly bad for CBS, also third with its coverage of last month’s Democratic convention. It averaged a 6.5 rating then, ABC a 6.9 and the victor, NBC, a 7.4.

NBC had thought it had a shot at a second victory because reruns of two of its top shows--”The Bill Cosby Show” and “A Different World”--aired on the East Coast as the lead-in to its closing-night coverage of the GOP convention on Thursday.

But that didn’t help, NBC officials said. ABC, which on the East Coast aired an unsuccessful pilot, “Loner,” as its lead-in, won Thursday’s convention ratings race with a 7.7 average, followed by NBC with a 7.0. CBS had a 6.2. for the final night.

There was an average 9% drop in audience for network coverage of this year’s Democratic convention, compared to that in 1984.

But surprisingly, there was only a slight drop in viewing audience for the GOP convention of this year. The 1984 convention had a three-network average of 18.8 and a combined 37% share of the audience, said CBS research vice president Michael Eisenberg. The one that ended Thursday averaged a 18.7 rating and 36% audience share.

Eisenberg attributed this to high viewer interest in President Reagan’s farewell address to the convention on Monday and interest Thursday after the flap over the National Guard service during the Vietnam War of the GOP vice-presidential nominee, Sen. Dan Quayle (R-Ind.).

Another factor, he said, probably was the hot weather that kept many viewers around the nation at home, watching TV with air conditioners and fans blowing.

Ted Turner’s Cable News Network, which says it now serves 46 million homes, found a big increase, relatively speaking, in its audience for the GOP convention this year.

CNN, whose coverage of the 1984 convention was seen in 300,000 homes on the average, said its reportage was seen in 871,000 homes this time out.