Trump touts online viewership for GOP convention after trailing in TV ratings

President Trump on Saturday touted online viewership for the Republican National Convention after his speech drew a smaller TV audience than Joe Biden’s address, with the GOP saying total viewership across TV and online for its event surpassed that of the Democratic convention.

Republicans said Friday that 147.9 million people watched the four-day GOP convention, which culminated Thursday night with the president’s speech on the South Lawn of the White House. By comparison, Biden’s campaign said last week that the Democratic convention drew around 122 million total viewers.

“Wow! Despite the Democrats views across TV and online lie (Con!), we had 147.9 million, the Republican National Convention blew the Democrat National Convention AWAY. Not even close! Just like their lies on Russia, Football (PLAY!) and everything else! NOVEMBER 3rd,” Trump tweeted Saturday.

“The Fake News doesn’t want to report these numbers. The @latimes and others believed the Crooked Dems before the real numbers came out. Too bad we don’t have honest reporting when it comes to ‘Trump’. Phony sources, they say anything and think they get away with it. November 3rd,” he added.

Wow! Despite the Democrats views across TV and online lie (Con!), we had 147.9 million, the Republican National Convention blew the Democrat National Convention AWAY. Not even close! Just like their lies on Russia, Football (PLAY!) and everything else! NOVEMBER 3rd.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2020

The Fake News doesn’t want to report these numbers. The @latimes and others believed the Crooked Dems before the real numbers came out. Too bad we don’t have honest reporting when it comes to “Trump”. Phony sources, they say anything and think they get away with it. November 3rd. https://t.co/gyHx898DXn

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2020

Trump touted the numbers a day after preliminary figures showed that his convention speech drew a smaller audience on TV than Biden’s speech at the Democratic convention last week.

On traditional outlets CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, an estimated 19.9 million Americans watched Trump’s speech on TV, while 21.7 million watched Biden’s speech.

C-SPAN’s streaming numbers on its YouTube channel were particularly strong, with the Republican National Convention viewed by more than 1.9 million.

For context, CBS drew 1.78 million viewers on Thursday night for its coverage of the GOP convention.

According to figures released by Nielsen, Democrats also edged Republicans in total TV ratings for their respective conventions.

Biden’s lead in key battleground states has shrunk in recent public surveys, with the former vice president now leading Trump by just 3 points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling index.