STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty ImagesBarack Obama spoke in a football stadium. John McCain spoke after a football game.
Ratings-wise, both moves were good. But McCain's was bigger.
Last night's McCain speech at the Republican National Convention was watched by nearly 39 million people, Nielsen Media Research said today.
In setting a new decade high for a convention speech, the GOP presidential nominee edged Democratic counterpart Obama (38.4 million), and McCain's suddenly famous running mate, Sarah Palin (37.2 million).
Football might have been the difference-maker.
On NBC, the McCain speech aired right after the conclusion of the NFL's football-season opener, a game which averaged 13.6 million viewers from 8-10 p.m. (ET).
While it's unknown how many football fans stuck around for McCain, the game definitely boosted NBC, if not the Republican contender. Last week, about 6 million watched Obama's speech on NBC. Last night, a broadcast-network-best 8 million caught McCain on the same network.
As for Obama, not only didn't he speak after a football game, he addressed his convention during the runup to Labor Day, usually one of the least-watched TV weeks of the year.
Obama's speech, however, was carried live by two more networks than McCain's (eight), and by four more than Palin's (six).
Overall, both political conventions were ratings winners for their respective parties.
The Democrats' audience numbers were up 66 percent over 2004; the Repubicans' were up 42 percent over their convention's final three nights in 2004.
In head-to-head competition, the Republican convention beat the Democratic convention. The Republicans averaged 32.5 million viewers for their three prime-time nights, Tuesday-Thursday. Over the same period last week, the Democratics averaged 29.5 million.