GOP Convention Highest Rated Since 1960

Another little something for the media thumb-suckers to chew on. Note the lame attempt at humor in the headline.

More than 41 million Americans watched John McCain deliver his acceptance speech Thursday night, essentially reaching the same number of viewers that Barack Obama did last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

In a closely-watched ratings race, Mr. McCain edged out his running mate Sarah Palin, who reached 37.2 million viewers on Wednesday night.

Mr. McCain’s speech was watched by 38.9 million viewers on the three broadcast networks, three cable news channels, and two Spanish-language channels, according to Nielsen. That figure is slightly ahead of the 38.3 million who watched Mr. Obama last Thursday on those eight channels plus BET and TV One.

The speeches were also broadcast by PBS, C-SPAN and other channels that are not covered in Nielsen’s estimate. PBS averaged 3.5 million viewers in prime time when Mr. Obama spoke last Thursday, and averaged 2.7 million viewers in prime time when Mr. McCain spoke yesterday.

This week’s convention, which was cut short on Monday due to the landfall of Hurricane Gustav, ranks as the most-watched Republican convention since 1960, when Nielsen began measuring the events.

Blockbuster Ratings for Giants-Patriots

As expected, Saturday night's Patriots-Giants game racked up huge ratings, with the game coming in as the most watched regular season NFL game since 1995.

The historic New England Patriots-New York Giants game pushed past this year's Patriots-Indianapolis Colts thriller to become the most-watched regular-season NFL telecast since 1995.

At least 34.5 million people tuned in to various outlets, including both CBS and NBC, to watch the Pats earn a place in NFL history Saturday by completing a perfect 16-0 regular season with a 38-35 victory over the Giants, according to preliminary estimates released Sunday by Nielsen Media Research.

That tops everything since the Thanksgiving 1995 Kansas City Chiefs-Dallas Cowboys game that averaged 35.7 million viewers. It also was ahead of CBS' 33.8 million viewers for the November 4 Patriots-Colts game.

Saturday's game was the first time since Super Bowl I in the mid-1960s that an NFL game was simulcast on more than one network. It also was available on three channels in New York (the local CBS and NBC outlets as well as Fox-owned indie WWOR) and all three of the Big Three in Boston (CBS, NBC and ABC).

CBS averaged 15.7 million viewers, which was the largest share of any of the networks simulcasting the game. NBC averaged about 13.1 million viewers, with 4.5 million viewers for the NFL Network nationwide and the rest spread across the three over-the-air channels in the New York and Boston markets (WWOR, Boston's WCVB and New Hampshire's WMUR).

Live Earth Bombs in Nielsen Ratings

What happened to the two billion people that were predicted to watch? OK, granted this just covers the United States, but these are abysmal, Olbermann-esque numbers that just cannot be spun in a positive fashion.

Viewers don't warm up to 'Live Earth' coverage

NEW YORK -- NBC's three-hour primetime "Live Earth" special, which included highlights from Saturday's global concerts, failed to generate much enthusiasm in the ratings.

The estimated 2.7 million viewers was slightly under the 3 million viewers NBC has averaged on Saturday nights in the summer with repeats and the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs on what is already the least-popular night of television.

It also performed below the Live 8 concert two years ago, according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Nielsen Media Research.

The three-hour concert special from Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., drew a 0.9 rating/3 share in adults 18-49 --- the same as a typical summer Saturday after Memorial Day.

The special was also just under ABC's primetime coverage of the Live 8 concert, which occurred Independence Day weekend on July 2, 2005. Live 8 averaged 2.9 million viewers and a 1.0 rating/5 share in adults 18-49.

But ... but ... but this was the biggest event in the history of mankind, addressing a "grave crisis" that imperils us all!

Al Gore's hologram was unavailable for comment.