In the 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. time period, where all cable and broadcast networks competed with each other with respective DNC coverage, CNN again dominated with 6.2 million viewers. This is up 54% from the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. period in 2012.
MSNBC was next with 4.6 million (up 12% from four years ago). Its sister network NBC was at 4.3 million (down 14%). ABC was at 4.1 million (gaining 28%), followed by Fox News Channel at 3.3 million (up 40%); and CBS with 3.21 million (slipping 2%).
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For the three-hour prime-time period, CNN also was tops for key TV news viewers, 25-54, averaging 1.7 million. MSNBC was next at 1.1 million, followed by Fox News with 858,000.
On the social media front, 3.3 million tweets were sent by 693,000 people for the first night of the DNC event, according to Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings.
Twitter activity spiked at 10:21 p.m. ET, when 30,400 tweets were sent in one minute following Michelle Obama's speech.