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The 2024 Democratic National Convention closed out its four-day run with a ratings high as Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.
Night 4 of the DNC scored 26.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day viewing figures, as it aired from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET across 15 networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET, CNN, CNNe, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS. As Harris formally accepted the nomination, her speech averaged 28.9 million viewers from approximately 10:31 p.m. to 11:11 p.m. ET.
The fourth night of the DNC brought in a 3% bigger audience than the final night of the 2024 RNC earlier this summer, which saw 25.38 million viewers tune in on Thursday, July 18 as Donald Trump officially accepted the GOP nomination.
As expected, Night 4 brought in the biggest audience of the 2024 DNC, exceeding its opening night viewership of 20 million, as well as the 20.8 million viewers who tuned in for Night 2, which outpaced Night 3’s viewership of 20.2 million.
Viewership for the DNC’s final night also outpaced Night 4 of the 2020 DNC, which drew in 24.6 million viewers to see Joe Biden accept the Democratic nomination, though it was several million shy of reaching the whopping 29.8 million viewers that tuned in for the fourth and final evening of the 2016 DNC when Hillary Clinton accepted the party’s nomination.
While millions tuned in to watch Harris accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, widespread rumors and speculation that other big names — including Beyoncé, Taylor Swift or George W. Bush — could also make a surprise appearance might have boosted the night’s audience as well.
As the DNC steadily grew its viewership among younger audiences throughout the convention, Night 4 brought in 1.44 million viewers among adults 18-34 — up 69.7% from Night 1’s viewership of 851,000 in the demo. Among adults 35-54, 5.25 million viewers in the demo tuned to Night 4 coverage while the event drew in 18.83 million viewers among adults 55 and older.
As has been the case for the week, MSNBC’s DNC coverage for Night 4 scored the biggest audience of the cable news networks with 6.5 million total viewers, while the more centrist CNN scored 4 million viewers and the conservative-leaning Fox News brought in 2.4 million viewers. In the key demo among adults 25-54, MSNBC averaged 1.1 million viewers, outpacing CNN’s demo viewership of 990,000 and Fox News’ viewership of 333,000.
DNC coverage boosted MSNBC to become the most-watched cable news network in both total viewers and the key 25-54 demo in primetime from Monday through Thursday. Across the week in primetime, MSNBC averaged 5.2 million total viewers while CNN brought in an average of 3.4 million viewers; Fox News averaged 2.4 million for the week.
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