Ratings: ABC Wins Broadcast’s Convention-Coverage Battle on Final Night of RNC

The 2020 Democratic and Republican National Conventions are finally, mercifully over. On Thursday, ABC News topped the 10 p.m. hour with its RNC coverage. While ABC had the most primetime viewers — on average — last night, CBS edged both ABC and NBC in the key demographic’s ratings. That was thanks to “Big Brother’s” domination among adults 18-49 at 8 o’clock. The below Nielsen numbers are not adjusted for time zones. Therefore, the ratings for CBS, NBC and ABC, which carried Night 4 of the RNC live at 10 p.m. ET, should be considered subject to significant adjustment. Other interesting notes from Thursday’s broadcast primetime window came from an as-close-as-it-gets battle between the Spanish-language networks, and Fox reruns settling for seventh place in total viewers — below even The CW.

CBS was first in ratings with a 0.5 rating/3 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 2.34 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Big Brother” at 8 p.m. posted a 1.0/6 and 4 million viewers. “Love Island” at 9 got a 0.4/3 and 1.7 million viewers. Convention coverage at 10 had a 0.2/2 and 1.3 million viewers.

ABC and NBC tied for second in ratings, both with a 0.4/2. ABC was first in total viewers with 2.5 million, NBC was third with 2.26 million.

For ABC, following reruns, RNC coverage at 10 drew a 0.4/2 and 2.3 million viewers. For NBC, after repeats, the convention coverage at 10 had a 0.3/2 and 1.8 million viewers.

Telemundo and Univision tied for fourth in ratings, both with a 0.3/2. Telemundo topped Univision for fourth in total viewers by just 1,000 overall audience members, with 1.133 million viewers to Univision’s 1.132 million.

Fox was sixth in ratings with a 0.2/1 and seventh in viewers with 779,000, airing all reruns.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and sixth in viewers with 796,000. “Mysteries Decoded” at 8 had a 0.2/1 and 860,000 viewers. A rerun followed.

Now that the conventions are wrapped up, we’d say “back to your regularly scheduled program,” but it’s still the end of summer and the middle (we hope) of a pandemic.