Convention coverage Ratings - Impact of Web and Social Media?

I suspect that pretty much everyone's aware that both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party held their national conventions recently and formally confirmed the nomination of their chosen candidates for the Presidency of the United States.
  You've also probably heard a variety of complaints about the coverage - there were plenty to go around, whatever your political preference.  Now, though, the audience ratings numbers are out - and there's some really bad news for traditional media.  First, let me say that there are a lot of stories focusing on the drop in ratings, or on the fact that Obama's speech had higher ratings than Romney's - and that there are a lot of conflicting numbers.  I'll be discussing the Final Night numbers for each convention, using Nielsen's Persons aged 2 or older.
  Since they went first, let's look at the numbers for the Republican's big night, when Romney gave his acceptance speech.  Nielsen reports that the nine broadcast and cable channels combined that night to draw an average of 30.3 million viewers - and that was down about 22% from the ratings for the 2008 Convention's final night.  While both liberals and conservatives won't be surprised to find that Fox News Channel had the highest viewership, they should be concerned.  Fox averaged 9.1 million viewers, or more than 30% of all convention viewers that night- more than twice the audience of any of the big broadcast networks.  They also had the smallest drop in audience from 2008 at 2%  ABC attracted 4.4 million, CBS's viewership fell by more than half, to 2.4 million;  and NBC's audience also dropped by more than half, to 3.9 million; and that was following strong lead-ins from their regular entertainment programming (the broadcast networks only covered the 10-11 pm (Eastern) hour).  CNN's audience also dropped by half, to 2.3 million.  MSNBC had 1.9 million.
  The Democratic National Convention drew more viewers than the RNC this year.  Total viewership for the closing night was 35.7 million, also down from 2008 levels (about 7%).  NBC was able to attract the most viewers for Obama's acceptance speech, gaining an audience of 7.4 million.  CNN came in second, with 5.6 million; MSNBC had 4.5 million; ABC 4 million; CBS had 3.3 million,; and Fox News had 2.9 million viewers that night.  All of the broadcast and cable news networks saw significant declines, with the exception of MSNBC, whose ratings were up slightly from its 2008 DNC coverage. Compared to 2008 DNC coverage, NBC was down 5%, CBS was down 31%, and ABC was down 50%.

  There are several (non-partisan) things that stand out.  First, that over the 6 nights of convention coverage, Fox News had the highest average audience (5.3 million), beating NBC's 5 million.  (ABC averaged 3.7 million, CBS averaged 3.4 million, CNN averaged 3.1 million and MSNBC average 3.0 million).  This reflects a long term trend of the decline in the preeminence of the broadcast networks for news, but in many cases the losses are extreme (losing a third to half or more of previous audiences).  Are the broadcast networks losing their stature and importance as a source of news?  Are their other factors at work.  Well, it could be that American audiences aren't interested in largely pre-scripted public relations efforts - where real news only happens if someone goes off-script.
  Several critics though to blame the rise of DVRs - since their audience numbers don't show up in the overnight ratings.  Personally, I'm doubtful that most people would bother to record political convention coverage (unless they wanted to compare how different networks covered the conventions.  On the other hand, having DVRs might ease concerns about missing favorite programs enough to convince some to watch live coverage on the cable nets, and the recorded programs later.

  The most likely candidate for shifting viewing habits is the boom in online video access and use.  A growing number of viewers watch recorded - and live - video content online.  2012 may be a milepost year in this, as similar to the Summer Olympics, every minute of both conventions were streamed live by multiple outlets. C-SPAN set up convention hubs for both conventions, each offering live streams and more than 100 hours of video content.  All of the news networks and PBS also offered significant online access to the conventions, as well as related content.  There were more than 2.5 million views of RNC speeches and activities on YouTube, and top DNC speeches also garnered significant viewing online.
  An associated milepost for this year could be the rise of social TV - people are getting comfortable with the idea of engaging in social media while watching TV.  Both conventions generated million of Tweets (more during the DNC), but that was only one dimension.  There also seems to be substantial growth in, and use of, online video.  C-SPAN set up convention hubs for both conventions, each offering live streams and more than 100 hours of video content.  All of the news networks and PBS also offered significant online access.  And many individuals captured and reposted their favorite parts, and sometimes also their own comments, on the various Web2.0 options.  There were more than 2.5 million views of RNC speeches and activities on YouTube according to an early RNC release, and top DNC speeches also garnered significant viewing.

  With myriad sources and outlets, it's more difficult to get solid numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised that more people watched, or were exposed to, the conventions online, than watched it on some of the traditional TV news channels.

Sources -  Over 6 Days of the RNC and DNC, Fox News Channel Had the Most-Watched Convention Coverage,  TV by the Numbers blog
Democratic Convention on pace to trump GOP in social media, LostRemote
Republican Convention Sets Social Media Bar for Democrats,  Mashable