On Wednesday, Democrats looked forward to the third night of their national convention, and while some might have been excited to hear speakers like vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, Washington Examiner columnist Tiana Lowe surely wasn’t among them.
Earlier in the week, Lowe called the entire event “cringeworthy,” and judging from the ratings thus far, she isn’t the only one who feels that way.
In Lowe’s words, “the Democratic National Committee put together a cringeworthy eyesore of a virtual convention, plagued by shockingly low production values and Eva Longoria Baston as the de facto emcee, leading to the whole affair feeling more like a low-rent infomercial than the winning party’s national celebration.”
“And now,” Lowe continued, “the ratings are in, and the verdict from the public proves the 2020 DNC is a total dud. At press time, posted viewership marks nearly a 28% drop from the high-stakes DNC of 2016.”
Ratings disappointment
Lowe highlighted the fact that ratings on broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC “were down a staggering 42% with just 6.7 million viewers at 10 p.m. Cable networks Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN were down 16% to nearly 12 million viewers.” As such, she pointed out, that amounts to “fewer than 19 million views — or 28% the viewership of the 2016 DNC. ”
“That’s roughly on par with the higher-rated Democratic primary debates, not one of which came within a stone’s throw of the best-rated 2016 Republican debates,” according to Lowe.
The conservative pundit noted that some of the poor ratings showing was inevitable given the identity of the nominee, drawing an unfavorable comparison between former Vice President Joe Biden and the more charismatic Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
She also acknowledged that the lackluster atmosphere was partly due to most of the proceedings taking place remotely, with speakers delivering their messages via video rather than before the traditional live convention center crowd.
“Worst is yet to come”
However, Lowe opined that those aren’t the only factors to blame, with much of the outcome simply owning to the party’s technical incompetence.
She complained that “the galling visual display and choppy series of clips threading together Monday night’s affair was a choice — and a telling one at that.”
Lowe went on to say that “the true travesty of the night was the failure of production,” adding that the “mix of live and pre-filmed videos brought the worst of both worlds.”
“The worst is yet to come,” Lowe concluded on Tuesday. “Tonight, we get to cheer on the predatory Bill Clinton, and [Wednesday], we’ll be graced with the charisma of Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. Biden is set to speak on Thursday, if he can remember.”
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