When former US President Barack Obama stepped onto the stage at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the atmosphere was electric. It was none other than Michelle Obama, the former first lady, who introduced the 44th President to the attendees, calling him "the love of my life". The two, all smiles, then hugged before Mr Obama, one of the most charismatic speakers, took to the dais.
It wasn't just the delegates and the supporters of the Democratic Party who patiently listened to the former president. People at home, too, watched him speak, data show. The second night of the Democratic Convention reached an average of 20.6 million viewers on Tuesday, courtesy of the Obamas.
The average viewership of the Democratic National Convention was 20 million on Monday, according to Nielsen.
Like the night before, data from 12 networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, CNN, CNNe, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS -- were compiled.
DNC's maiden night averaged 20 million viewers across 13 networks. It surpassed the audience for the first three days of the Republican National Convention (RNC) held last month in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Nielsen data show that the DNC's viewership on the second day jumped above the night's average to reach 21.6 million when former US President Barack Obama addressed the crowd.
Viewership for the RNC stood at 18.1 million, 14.8 million and 18 million, respectively, during the first three days, as per Nielsen. Donald Trump, who is eyeing another term as US president in the November 5 elections, headlined the final night of the convention. At the time, the viewership averaged 25.4 million, with the peak recorded at 28.4 million.
On Tuesday, Barack Obama said, "We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos."
Referring to Trump's first term as US president, he stated that people have seen that movie before, and "we all know that the sequel is usually worse".
As the audience started to boo Trump, Obama recalled the popular phrase from his 2016 DNC speech, when Trump competed against Hillary Clinton: "Don't boo. Vote."
According to TV analyst Michael Mulvihill, the DNC also witnessed significantly higher viewers percentage-wise.
Mulvihill, who is the president of insights and analytics at FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment and Tubi, shared on social media site X that the DNC had 11.9 per cent of sampled households watching across 44 major metro areas on Tuesday, while the RNC earlier had 7.7 per cent rating, which is a difference of over 50 per cent.
Further, he pointed out that the DNC beat the RNC on the maiden night by 21 per cent in the overnight figures, besides 10 per cent in the full nationals.
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