Conventional Wisdom: Putting National Party Convention Ratings in Context

Abstract

This paper places broadcast major party convention ratings in the broader context of the changing media environment from 1976 until 2008 in order to explore the decline in audience for the convention. Broadcast convention ratings are contrasted with convention ratings for cable news networks, ratings for broadcast entertainment programming, and ratings for “event” programming. Relative to audiences for other kinds of programming, convention audiences remain large, suggesting that profit-making criteria may have distorted representations of the convention audience and views of whether airing the convention remains worthwhile.