According to Nielsen, an average of 20 million people watched the first night of the Democratic National Convention across 13 networks, surpassing the number of viewers on the first day of the Republican National Convention.
Watch highlights from the first night of the Democratic National Convention in 3 minutes
The numbers are for the period from 10 p.m. ET to 12:30 a.m. ET, as the rally ran well over time and ended with President Joe Biden's speech.
The first night of the Republican National Convention drew an estimated 18.13 million viewers in the 10 p.m. ET hour across 12 networks, up slightly from 17 million viewers in 2020.
The DNC audience was larger than the first night of the 2020 convention, when it drew 19.75 million viewers. But it was significantly lower than the 2016 DNC, when it drew 25.95 million viewers.
