33 Million TV Watchers Tune to Clinton Acceptance Speech

More than 33 million people watched the Democratic National Convention on television Thursday night, when Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton delivered his acceptance speech as the party’s presidential nominee.

Exact figures were not available, but more than 28.1 million people were tuned to the Democratic proceedings on the three major networks Thursday, while coverage on Cable News Network and the Public Broadcasting Service was seen by at least 5.6 million people, according to figures released Friday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

Precise audience comparisons between this year’s convention and 1988’s could not be made because of changes in audience measurement systems, growth in cable television viewing and increased coverage by sources other than the major networks. But ratings for the convention’s final night dropped 6.2% from 1988 on the three major networks.

ABC won the overall ratings race for the entire convention, averaging about 5.5 million households for all four nights, with CBS second at about 5.2 million and NBC trailing at about 5.1 million. The overall convention ratings for the networks were 16% lower than in 1988.

PBS, which covered the convention in conjunction with NBC, averaged about 3 million households a night, while another 1.7 million were tuned to CNN.

The convention also was carried on C-SPAN, cable’s non-commerical public-affairs network, cable’s Comedy Central and the Spanish-language Univision network. Their ratings were not available.