President Donald Trump’s Republican midterm convention speech bombs, pulls in fewer viewers on Fox News than ‘Gutfeld’
Fox News saw only a small increase in viewers during President Donald Trump’s lengthy speech at the GOP midterm convention.
About 2.5 million viewers tuned in to the broadcast between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET on September 9, according to Nielsen data.
The conservative news outlet had a much larger audience than CNN and MS NOW during the same time slot, but its numbers were close to what the network typically gets with its regular programming.
The ratings are in
Fox News had the most viewers during Trump’s speech, with about 2.5 million tuning in. MS NOW had around 1 million viewers, compared with 441,000 for CNN.
The numbers look less impressive when compared with Fox News’ typical lineup. Gutfeld! averaged about 2.51 million total viewers in August, according to Nielsen.
During the 10 p.m. hour on September 9, when Trump was still speaking, Fox averaged about 2.50 million viewers.
Modest bump
Other networks also aired the president’s full speech, including NewsNation, Newsmax, C-SPAN and OAN.
Fox News has generally led the other channels when it comes to viewers for the president’s speeches. That means the final total may not increase by much once all the outlets’ viewership is counted.
Looking at the full 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. window, Trump’s appearance did give Fox News slightly higher ratings than its regular programming, according to the ratings analysis.
The network’s total audience increased 6 percent during the two-hour block that normally airs Hannity and Gutfeld!, while the demo was up 1 percent.
NFL vs. GOP convention
Trump’s speech had some competition from the NFL season opener between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
The game was a rematch of the previous season’s Super Bowl and aired at the same time as the president’s speech.
The NFL ratings haven’t been released yet, but past seasons suggest the game could have brought in 27 to 30 million viewers.
Nevertheless, Trump claimed that the Republican convention had more viewers than the NFL.
“The Republican Midterm Convention last night, in Dallas, was a major, sold-out hit, far bigger, better, and more important than anyone thought possible,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“It was really something, streaming all over the place, and really big numbers, despite going up against the NFL. The overall numbers beat the NFL.”
Trump praises the convention
Trump also claimed that thousands of people who couldn’t get into the venue were watching from outside on screens.
“The Arena, which was really nice, beat its own attendance records,” he continued. “The place was packed! There were thousands of people outside who couldn’t get in. Screens were provided.
“I guess people LOVE TRUMP POLITICS!” he added. “Exciting ‘Stuff!’ MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”