Comments on: McCain TV Ratings Beat Obama in Preliminary Numbers

By: Bill McGraw

Bill McGraw — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:35:42 +0000

If reports are correct, which is anyone’s guess these days with media and data manipulation, McCain’s speech topped Obama’s in viewers by 20-25%. If the McCain/Palin ticket were not compelling, McCain could not have commanded such a viewer response – Speaking is not his strong-point – Leadership is… Until this week, McCain’s campaign was DOA. Democrats “did it to themselves” by dismissing Clinton for a weaker but more charismatic candidate; she would have won the Whitehouse hands-down. McCain did what the Democrats should have done – make history by making it possible to put a strong, capable, proven and electable woman in the Whitehouse. Republicans will claim the victory when viewer/voter interest translates to a 5-point McCain/Palin victory.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:36:06 +0000

Polly, it would be fairly easy for us to compare the data we have (which certainly is for most of the networks that aired the speech) and do side-by-side comparisons at least for the 10pm hour. We probably won’t see the final numbers by network for ABC, CBS and NBC until Tuesday though and by then I think most of the people who care will have forgotten about it! :-/

By: Polly

Polly — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:15:40 +0000

Thanks Bill – Sorry to hear that the traffice was low on the lists. I can understand that the effort might not be worth it.

Too bad we can’t know for sure which channels covered which speeches. You would think that the information would be readily available. Oh well. Thanks for the information.

By: Polly

Polly — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:02:56 +0000

Thanks Robert. If you change your mind just know that I’m voting to have them back. I for one enjoyed them and it was one of the reasons that I came by the site every day.

Jonathan B – I agree with you. With numbers like these for the conventions I’m thinking that the debates will be record breaking numbers wise. The Vice-President debate for sure.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:57:14 +0000

Polly,

Unfortunately I cannot speak definitively about who did or did not cover the speeches. I can only compare the numbers we see.

For broadcasters these are the ones we have Overnight numbers for, so I am *sure* they covered the speeches: Univision, ABC, NBC, CBS, Telemundo. I didn’t include Telemundo in our Overnight posts, but for the 10-11pm Democratic Thurs show they did 863,000 viewers and for the Republican Thurs show they did 1.031 million.

There may have been other broadcasters covering it, but we don’t have any data for them.

For cable, we have numbers (or will soon) for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. I did read that BET covered the DNC but not the RNC, but we have no data for them.

As for the reading lists, we found they weren’t getting the traffic that merited the effort to keep them up. We’re currently looking into other ways to generate them that will be easier, but I’m not sure if/when we may do it again.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:51:16 +0000

Polly, you’re not missing it as far as the “reading lists”, we’ve suspended them at least temporarily and that isn’t likely to change in the next month or so. Thanks for the kind words about the site. Bill can chime in on the ratings numbers by network for Obama vs. McCain

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:49:00 +0000

the 38.933 million isn't as preliminary, and it does include all networks, and it was ~500,000 more viewers than watched Obama's speech. The election itself will indeed show the true picture. This, however is TVbytheNumbers, not ElectionbytheNumbers. We will continue to report ongoing ratings data for debates, etc, so please do calm the ranting!

By: Polly

Polly — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:47:43 +0000

Bill – Is there any way you could tell us which channels carried the Obama speech and which carried the McCain speech? And the numbers for each channel? I don’t know if you have access to all those numbers I just think it would be interesting. I had heard that ten channels carried the Obama speech, but only six carried Palin. I was wondering if it was the same for McCains. Thanks.

Really like the new look to the site. Miss the daily bookmarked articles from each of you though. Maybe it is still here and I’m just missing it? The TVBizWire just doesn’t seem as interesting, but maybe it is the same thing?

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:40:40 +0000

Dee, calm your ranting, they are *preliminary* numbers. The cable numbers should be available later today.

By: Dee

Dee — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:24:31 +0000

Please! Your numbers are flawed since they don’t include all of the cable channels that showed the convention. And your totals don’t amount to a hill of beans because only the election itself will show the true picture.

By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:16:48 +0000

You mean all he needed was the tabloid fodder Palin brought with her? Hillary wouldn’t have done that.

By: T

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:12:52 +0000

The interesting thing is McCain didn’t need Cheryl Crowe, John Legend, Michael McDonald and Stevie Wonder to bring interest to his speech that day. All McCain needed was Sarah Palin, his runningmate.

Had Obama swallowed his petulance and nominated Hillary, he probably wouldn’t have needed all of them either.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:37:32 +0000

It will be interesting to see what the total numbers are with the cable networks added in. I find myself wondering if John McCain will surpass Obama’s 38 million and Palin’s 37 million. I also find myself wondering if this increased viewership will hurt or help the McCain/Palin campaign. Obama saw major donations after his speech and again after Palin’s speech.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:31:47 +0000

Let’s not jump to conclusions, NBC’s numbers are clearly inflated

By: Jonathan B.

Jonathan B. — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:29:25 +0000

The fast nationals at Zap2it have the RNC coverage at a total of 12.2/20 from the three networks, compared to the 11.3/18 from Obama last week and 11.4/18 from Palin last night. NBC’s coverage DID have the NFL premiere as a lead-in, so those numbers could be inflated.

Either way, it’s gonna be impressively close for McCain, and overall a win for political awareness. If the conventions are drawing record numbers, how well can the debates do? At the very least the Veep Debate could be a record breaker if the Palin buzz keeps up.