Fox News Sweeps The Republican National Convention Ratings Race

Fox News Sweeps The Republican National Convention Ratings Race

While CNN was the undisputed winner of the Democratic National Convention, Fox News swept the Republican National Convention ratings race in impressive fashion, beating the broadcast networks each night in the 10 p.m. hour and setting several records in the process.

Bill O'Reilly's Thursday evening broadcast, which featured Barack Obama, was the second highest rated "O'Reilly Factor" in the show's history, topped only by a March 2003 show at the beginning of the Iraq War.

John McCain's speech Thursday night and Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night — which both came in at 9.2 million viewers — were the highest rated convention telecasts in cable news history, and they tied for the third-largest telecast in Fox News history, behind only George Bush's address on the eve of the Iraq invasion (March 19, 2003, 9.7 million viewers) and a 2004 presidential debate between George Bush and John Kerry (September 30, 2004, 9.5 million viewers).

Ratings info below:

Thursday (McCain speech)
10 - 11:15 pm - total viewers

FOX NEWS - 9.2 million
NBC - 8.7 million
ABC: 6.0 million
CBS: 5.3 million
CNN - 4.8 million
MSNBC -- 2.5 million

Wednesday (Palin speech)
10-11:15pm - total viewers:

FOX NEWS - 9.2 million
NBC - 7.7 million
CNN - 6.2 million
ABC - 5.9 million
CBS - 4.6 million
MSNBC - 3.4 million

Tuesday
10 pm hour - total viewers

FOX NEWS - 6.2 million
NBC - 4.5 million
CNN - 3.2 million
ABC - 3.1 million
CBS - 2.9 million
MSNBC - 1.6 million

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