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Obama’s Convention Ratings Still Rising

Sen. Barack Obama’s convention speech may seem like old news, as Americans worry about Hurricane Gustav and the political class focuses on Gov. Sarah Palin and

Jul 31, 202018.7K Shares986.6K Views
Sen. Barack Obama’s convention speech may seem like old news, as Americans worry about Hurricane Gustav and the political class focuses on Gov. Sarah Palin and the GOP convention. Yet the number of people who have watched Obama’s speech continues to rise.
On Thursday, the TV audiencewas 41.9 million people. That’s more than double the audience for Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 acceptance speech. Few commentators predict that this week’s convention address by Sen. John McCain’s address will come close to Obama’s audience. In fact, the Democratic nominee’s audience is still growing.
Over the past three days, more than 870,000 people have watched Obama’s entireconvention address on YouTube. That includes about 390,000 through Obama’s official channel, and several hundred thousand more through general interest YouTube accounts from C-SPAN and PoliticsTV.
Today it is the *second most viewed *video on all of YouTube, sandwiched between a music videoby Nelly and a clip of “love secrets.” That’s especially striking because videos have to be watched in full to count for a view. Every other Top 10 video is under nine minutes, while Obama’s is 43 minutes.
Of course, the Obama campaign has repeatedly deployed YouTube to expand its reach without any cost. During the convention, it not only provided an alternative platform for speeches on demand, but also circulated original and [“backstage” videos](//www.youtube.com/v/BRnhSnVR8s4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344">) to show YouTubers scenes that even the floor delegates could not see.
Hajra Shannon

Hajra Shannon

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