In addition to giving a speech that accomplished what it needed to quite well, it looks like Sarah Palin acheived ratings rivling those of Barack Obama’s Thursday night speech:
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night nearly matched the record-setting numbers of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Palin pulled in 37.2 million viewers across broadcast and cable networks, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That’s 55% higher than Day 3 of the DNC, when her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, and President Clinton took the stage (24 million).
It’s also up a sharp 99% from the Republican convention’s third day in 2004 (18.7 million). In fact, it came close to upsetting Obama’s historic address on Thursday — the most-watched convention speech in history (38.4 million viewers).
Palin’s viewership is up 73% from Tuesday’s RNC tally, when 21.5 million tuned in to see President Bush and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman endorse nominee John McCain. The event also drew more female viewers than Hillary Clinton’s speech last week.
So will John McCain repeat his running mate’s feet ?
Possibly, but he’ll have to compete with something even more popular than Barack Obama, the opening night of the NFL:
Hurricane Gustav blew away the opening night of the Republican National Convention on Monday. Now Republicans are warily eyeing a man-made event — the NFL season opener between the Redskins and Giants — hoping that it won’t complicate the convention’s climax tonight.
The game is scheduled to kick off on NBC at 7:07 p.m. Eastern time, which could put it directly in the path of the convention’s paramount moment, Sen. John McCain’s speech accepting the party’s nomination. McCain’s address is scheduled during the broadcast networks’ one-hour convention-coverage window between 10 and 11 p.m.
NBC says it expects the game to wrap up within three hours, as both NBC and the NFL say such telecasts typically do. But that’s far from guaranteed. An overtime game, or one extended by an unusual number of disputed calls or injuries, could send the contest past its allotted time. That raises the possibility that the game could conflict with McCain’s speech, or that McCain will have to wait until later in the evening — potentially losing early-retiring viewers.
On the other hand, a quick conclusion to the matchup between the reigning Super Bowl champion Giants and their traditional conference rival could be a boon. The game could deliver millions of football fans who would otherwise not be in front of the set when NBC’s convention coverage starts.
NBC is contractually obligated to carry the NFL game until its conclusion. It plans to switch immediately to the convention once the game is over.
“We’re going to cover both,” said NBC spokesman Brian Walker yesterday. He said NBC’s news and sports divisions “are regularly in close communication, and this will be no different.”
At NBC’s request, the NFL agreed earlier this year to move tonight’s season opener from 8:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. because of the potential convention overlap, said Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the league.
Aiello said the average game last season lasted 3 hours and 3 minutes, a duration that would leave give McCain plenty of time to speak in prime time.
Or, you know, people who wanted to watch the speech could just change the channel.
