Just over 20 million viewers tuned in to watch the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday—edging out the ratings for the Republican National Convention by about 2 million viewers, according to Nielsen. About 19.1 million were still tuned in when President Joe Biden took the stage to deliver his remarks just before 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, a spokesperson for the ratings firm told the Daily Beast. In comparison, the first night of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee saw about 18.1 million total viewers. The majority of the viewers—about 15 million—were 55 and older. Only 851,000 viewers were in the 18-34 demographic—a notable decline from the 1.1 million young voters who tuned in to the 2020 DNC’s first night, and 2.4 million in 2016. However, this year’s RNC didn’t fare much better with young people. The Republican broadcast only brought in about 792,000 young viewers on the first night, according to Nielsen.
