How many people watch the impeachment trial? Here are the numbers …

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Those empty seats in the Senate Chamber on Thursday? They are characteristic of the public’s reaction to the second Trump impeachment trial.

If you’ve stuck with every minute of the process, or even looked at it only halfway, then you’re part of a special club. You will learn the full story of the crimes that were committed in the Capitol on January 6. But you are much more connected than the average American adult.

Nielsen’s TV ratings for the first two days of the trial reports show that only a small portion of the audience is watching at any one time. The ratings for CNN and MSNBC are way up – and the ratings for Fox News are much weaker. Some people also look at coverage through the broadcast networks, but not in large numbers.

The bottom line: News junkies are captivated by the emotional presentations, but much of the nation isn’t. More casual news consumers capture the coverage in bits and pieces by watching clips of the Democratic presentation on news websites or YouTube, or by scanning abstracts from partisan outlets. This is far, far from one of those “leave what you do and watch” moments in America.

What the numbers tell us

On Tuesday afternoon, an average of 11 million viewers watched the opening arguments of MSNBC, CNN, Fox, ABC and CBS. (NBC, PBS, and other channels also broadcast live coverage, but I don’t have exact data for those channels.) Wednesday afternoon, the same five channels averaged 12.4 million viewers. This is an average, meaning people came and went all the time, and the cumulative audience was much higher. But since there are nearly 210 million adults in the US, you could conclude that a lot of people think they know how this story ends, so they don’t bother to watch …

>> However, Trump’s second trial attracts a larger average audience than the first trial, points out John Koblin of the NYT …
>> On Wednesday, CNN was # 1 overall in the 25-54 demo, while MSNBC had the upper hand among total viewers …

>> Online streaming audiences were smaller, but still significant. CNN Digital’s livestreams on Tuesdays and Wednesdays surpassed the equivalent days for the House Impeachment Hearings 2019 and the 2020 Senate Impeachment Trial …

Fox viewers don’t want to see Democratic arguments

Fox News ended Wednesday morning with 1.4 million viewers. Then the trial began, and so did Fox’s ratings. Fox hit a low of 1 million in the 3 p.m. hour, though audience level rose noticeably during a pause in the trial at 1:39 p.m., when Fox’s Trump-friendly analysis of the trial brought back some viewers. The crowd came back big at 5pm when Fox retired from the Senate Chamber and aired “The Five” – ​​2.7 million viewers were in favor. Some tuned in during “Special Report” at 6 p.m., and many more tuned in when Fox resumed trial coverage from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. – Fox plunged to 1.2 million viewers. The crowd, of course, rushed back for “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which was over 3 million. But the average viewership of MSNBC and CNN was over 3 million all afternoon! The takeaway is clear: Fox’s base rejected Trump’s prosecution. They just wanted to hear the pro-Trump spin …

>> Thought bubble: I know it never would have happened, but what if the Senate had decided to hold this trial in the evening, while a primetime audience might have been watching live?

Pull further apart?

Will that be the main result of this trial? New tears in the proverbial American fabric? More fights between red and blue?

The uprising should not be seen as a partisan issue, but it has been, period, period. People have retreated to their corners. Allegations of hypocrisy have flown in all directions. The crimes that will never be forgotten by Trump critics have already been excused and dug into memory by Trump loyalists. The terms “Trump critics” and “Trump loyalists” shouldn’t even be part of this conversation, but … they are.

What happened at the Capitol on January 6? Trump’s war on the truth has affected how people answer that question. And it pulls people apart even further …

Not worth a discussion?

Brian Lowry writes, “Twitter spats rarely deserve attention, but I think there’s an important point buried in the gleefully vulgar exchange with Hugh Hewitt, in which Hewitt offered Simon a chance to debate his syndicated radio show. It’s a favorite tactic of Hewitt, but hidden in Simon’s answer was this: After you go all in to defend the former president, you no longer have the credibility to be worth discussing. This may not be a way to bridge the political divide, but it does send a signal that someone like Hewitt – once seen as an honest broker of conservative ideals – has sacrificed that position in the eyes of many on the left … “

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