Overnight ratings give DNC a ratings lead over Trump's RNC viewership

Donald Trump's reported fears are coming to life as the Democratic National Convention is already drawing bigger ratings than last month's Republican National Convention.

The GOP nominee has been privately asking his media and political allies how they think the two events will compare, but the overnight ratings for the DNC's first night show that 11.4 million viewers turned in – or 21 percent more than the 9.4 million viewers who tuned in to watch the RNC, according to analyst Michael Mulvihill.

"That DNC lead will likely narrow in the final national viewership and could even be erased, though that seems unlikely," Mulvilhill said. "The overnights reflect 44 major metro areas [and seven networks combined]."

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Overnight TV ratings are released early the next morning and only reflect a portion of the total viewers, so the DNC would need to have pulled more than 18.13 million viewers total to beat the RNC, which saw a 21-percent dip from 2016 by an increase over 2020.

Trump's speech on the final day of the RNC was watched by 23 million total viewers.

Monday night's DNC program featured memorable speeches from Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, as well as a late-night speech from president Joe Biden and a surprise appearance by Kamala Harris.