NYT: "TV Ratings May Be Leading Indicator of Convention Bounce" and those numbers are not good.

[DonRedwood]

It remains too early to tell exactly what effect the Republican National Convention has had on the polls. But television ratings are one measure that come in almost instantaneously. Ratings for the final two nights of the Republican convention were down quite a bit from 2008, declining by about 30 percent overall.

The ratings decline should not really be a surprise. Whereas, in 2008, Senator John McCain announced his running mate, Sarah Palin, just a few days before the convention, making her a national sensation, Mitt Romney rolled out his choice of Representative Paul D. Ryan three weeks ago, perhaps limiting the buildup to Tampa, Fla.

More important, this election has simply not generated the same excitement from viewers and voters than 2008 did. It would be quite surprising to me if the Democratic convention did not also experience a significant decline in its television ratings.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/aug-31-tv-ratings-may-be-leading-indicator-of-convention-bounce/

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Interesting information from Nate Silver. 30% down means 30% less interest and 30% less bounce. 30 might be my new favorite number.

[XemaSab]

1. OTOH

there's more technology now than there was in 2008.

Streaming the convention on the computer or watching the highlights later might be more of a thing.

[DonRedwood]

2. I know they never talk about this but the cable companies know exactly what we watch

For local ad purposes, if nothing else, they keep track of everything, I bet.

BUT...I'd also bet that in their logs, all those homes that are part of regular Nielson ratings keep track of computer shows that hey have watched as well.

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Chances are, tho, you're streamin' from a network's site...

If you're watching at nbcnews.com or abcnews.com or cspan.org, they know...

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Also, in '08, there was far more streaming technology available than in '04, '00 & '96...

And yet, Obama's speech had a higher TV rating than Kerry's in '04, Bush's in '00, and Dole's in '96. Even Dukakis' speech in '88 had less overall viewership, in an era where the only way you could view a convention speech was on television (and before cable news, really).

[mick063]

5. Yea but

The old constituency of the GOP are a target market for the "Jitterbug" telephone with simplistic features like large readable buttons.

There may be a better argument that youth would be more likely to watch a convention through live streaming.

[otohara]

6. It Was No Ordinary Convention - Everyone

knew it would be a hate fest towards one person... Barack Hussein Obama.

POTUS likeability numbers are still pretty high and their mean and nasty criticisms don't match the man we see
everyday. They are insane, dysfunctional and mean.

[BlueStreak]

9. And if anybody tuned in to the first night wondering if there would be any substantive, discussion

they would not have come back the following nights.

The parties have turned these conventions into nothing but a free infomercial. The big networks have cut their coverage way back, as well they should. Nothing of importance was said or done in Tampa. I wouldn't be surprised if the big networks cut the 2016 coverage back to one hour on the last day, unless there is some actual drama at play.

Really the only drama at this convention was the dissing of Ron Paul, and that was done at a time none of the networks were covering the convention.

[DonRedwood]

13. i couldn't watch much of it because of that

I'm a believer in "know your enemy" so I think we should watch...but, dang, this time it was just kinda sickening.

[SoCalDem]

7. Most people just don't care to watch politicians

There are plenty of other things to watch

[WI_DEM]

8. If candidates want conventions to matter again they should announce their choices for VP

at the convention itself which was the traditional way of doing it up until 1980.

[DonRedwood]

14. I'd bet that was romney's original intent but the cat got out of the bag

or he was so desperate to change the subject he gave up the bump for it.

[marmar]

10. Seems like they were trying to avoid TV coverage......

....... Half the speeches seemed to take place during rush hour.

[dimbear]

11. Key to the election: make the Dem convention look professional. Then it's in the bag. n/t

[loyalsister]

12. There was nothing new

Ryan and his plan are old news. The lies that were in the speeches have been all over television for weeks. 24 hr cable and early advertising made it irrelevant.
Was a wife mooning over her husband really supposed to be interesting?

They made a huge mistake with Eastwood. I bet there are people who will be watching just to see if the DNC follows with some of the same kind of idiocy.
Lincoln Chafee was a good choice. The endangered moderate republicans might be inclined to watch and if it's classy and substantive, stick with us.