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Historical TV Ratings For Republican Conventions

1960-2008 Presidential Campaigns

How many people watch political conventions on television?

This table shows how many US household televisions were tuned in to Republican Conventions from 1960 to 2008.

The TV rating is composed of two parts: the absolute number of households with TVs tuned in as well as the relative number ... the number of households watching as a percentage of total US households. The importance of relative comparison cannot be overestimated.

Year Networks Households
Watching		 Households
In US 		% Homes
2008 ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX
Telemundo, Univision (Spanish)
BET and TV One		 27,700,000 * 116,011,000** 22.2%
2004 ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX 16,809,000 112,000,000 15.0%
2000 ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX 14,042,000 104,705,000 13.4%
1996 ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS 15,756,000 99,627,000 15.8%
1992 ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS 20,000,000 95,669,000 20.9%
1988 ABC, CBS, NBC 16,200,000 91,124,000 17.8%
1984 ABC, CBS, NBC 16,200,000 85,290,000 19.0%
1980 ABC, CBS, NBC 16,500,000 80,776,000 20.4%
1976 ABC, CBS, NBC 21,900,000 72,867,000 30.0%
1972 ABC, CBS, NBC 14,400,000 66,676,000 21.6%
1968 ABC, CBS, NBC 15,000,000 60,813,000 24.7%
1964 ABC, CBS, NBC 11,130,000 56,149,000 19.8%
1960 ABC, CBS, NBC 12,596,000 52,799,000 23.9%
* Calculated by the author based on Nielsen data reported in the press
** 2007 data (most recent available)

Sources: The Nielsen Company (1960-2004, 2008 calculated using data from FOX and the Star-Tribune) and US Census (1960-1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2007)

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