Where Did the Election’s TV Viewers Go?
By Movieguide® Contributor
YouTube stole quite a few watchers from the TV viewing crowd this Election night.
“Election night 2024 saw its TV ratings fall sharply compared to 2020, but new data suggests that tens of millions of Americans were still tuning in…they were just watching on YouTube,” The Hollywood Reporter said. “The Google-owned video platform said Thursday that more than 45 million people in the U.S. watched election-related content on Tuesday, Nov. 5. That is an enormous number, and while obviously, not everyone was watching live videos in primetime, it suggests that tens of millions of people were nonetheless turning to YouTube for election-relayed information.”
An average of 42.29 million watchers viewed the election from 18 cable broadcasts from 7-11 p.m. ET. While YouTube’s data is not a precise comparison, THR says it still represents a scale that is only comparable to traditional TV.
The TV numbers are 25% lower than four years ago when TV election viewership was at 57 million. Compare that to eight years ago when views were at 71 million, and it’s 41% percent lower.
“When it comes to election livestreams, YouTube said that the most-watched stream was from Fox News, which peaked at more than one million concurrent viewers when Donald Trump addressed supporters that evening. Fox was followed (ranked by highest number of concurrent viewers) by streams from NBC News, LiveNOW from Fox (another Fox stream), and ABC News,” THR said. Podcaster Patrick David-Bet’s stream came in fifth place.
READ MORE: WHY LIVE STREAMS OUTPERFORMED TRADITIONAL TV ON ELECTION NIGHT
Podcaster Joe Rogan had the most viewed election-related videos in America in the weeks and days ahead of the election.
These were “topped by his interview with Trump, and followed by his interview with Vice President-elect JD Vance. The number three video was a supercut of Trump working at McDonalds from the creator Dylan Anderson, who makes videos featuring wholesome stories,” THR said.
“The SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE cold open featuring Vice President Kamala Harris was the fourth most-watched election-related video on YouTube, while the top five was rounded out by a Surrounded video from Jubilee featuring the conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro surrounded by 25 Harris voters,” THR said.
READ MORE: HOW THE 2024 ELECTION CYCLE AFFECTS TV VIEWERSHIP
This new data shows how traditional TV has lost its dominance in recent years. The success of podcasters like Rogan and David-Bet shows that independent voices have higher chances of finding listeners as well.
“Johnny Harris, Brian Tyler Cohen, Megyn Kelly, and Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy also received significant viewership on election-related content, all outside the traditional news ecosystem,” THR added.
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