The Newsroom

US ELECTIONS 2020 Coverage

With added Impeachment 2.0 (August 2020)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
GE
thegeek Founding member
That's kind of the point of election night programming though, isn't it? It's a bit bombastic and trying its best to add some entertainment to what's ultimately quite a dull process. It's why broadcasters usually go for big studios and fancy graphics and music in the first place.

Everything was pointing towards a Biden victory; if you'd been following the news you'd know that no one state could have taken Trump over 270, so why not have a bit of fun with the call and add a few seconds of tension to it? It was massively OTT but I think it's fine to be a bit The Day Today at an election.

For reference, here's Sky's call for the 2019 general election: https://youtu.be/IglgblnO5VQ
Similar sequence, well signposted but still making you wait before it appears on the flashy graphics.
MA
mark Founding member
I thought Sky's call looked beautiful and I can't fault it creatively. However, I agree that the way it was presented as a 'big reveal' with a dramatic build-up didn't quite work editorially - it just felt like they were trying to tease us about something we already knew.
Luke, bilky asko and Jory gave kudos
DV
dvboy
Julia Chatterley is on CNNI, it's pretty much back to normal business today
London Lite and Meridian AM gave kudos
RO
roo
I don’t blame Sky for wanting a *moment* but in practice, much like 2019, the pacing is just weird - you can’t build tension like an exit poll reveal to a foregone conclusion - feels like a quick jib shot over to a VR graphic would’ve had made a better impact than that excruciating silence.

All very petty of me though - they put out a great looking programme/marathon.
MO
Mouseboy33
The ratings for the Biden acceptance speech are in

network/total/demo #

CNN– 13,608,000 / 5,373,000
MSNBC – 8,528,000 / 2,321,000
CBS – 5,632,000 / 1,701,000
ABC – 4,385,000 / 1,357,000
Fox News – 2,964,000 / 814,000
JO
Jonwo
The ratings for the Biden acceptance speech are in

network/total/demo #

CNN– 13,608,000 / 5,373,000
MSNBC – 8,528,000 / 2,321,000
CBS – 5,632,000 / 1,701,000
ABC – 4,385,000 / 1,357,000
Fox News – 2,964,000 / 814,000

Can't help but feel amused that Fox News rated the lowest for the cable networks.
MA
mark Founding member
I'm surprised that so many more people watched it on news channels than network TV (which I now see was the case on election night too).

I'd always assumed that network TV would have a bigger audience - much like how BBC1 and ITV have much bigger audiences for general election coverage than the news channels.

It's really interesting to see how viewing trends have shifted in just over a decade. ABC and NBC had less than half the number of viewers this year that they had in 2008. In 2008, NBC had more than twice as many viewers as MSNBC, but this year they had more than 1.5m fewer than MSNBC.

Election night 2008 (8-11pm) - total viewers:

ABC — 13,135,000
CNN — 12,292,000
NBC — 12,018,000
FNC — 9,027,000
CBS — 7,829,000
MSNBC — 5,888,000
FOX — 5,137,000

Election night 2020 (8-11pm) - total viewers:

FNC– 13,638,000
CNN– 9,084,000
MSNBC– 7,310,000

ABC – 6,095,000
NBC– 5,792,000
CBS– 4,344,000
FOX – 3,278,000

As for Fox news coming 5th for Joe Biden's victory speech, I guess it wasn't exactly what most of their viewers wanted to see.
Last edited by mark on 9 November 2020 4:49pm - 2 times in total
TV
tv_bread
Nice closing yesterday
Media Box and Newsroom gave kudos
VA
valley
Nice closing yesterday

Very nice roundup. Bit of a shame it's not filling the frame, though.
JA
Jamesypoo
I caught that too. Shame it's just the same piece of music repeated three times rather than one longer piece!
itsrobert and tv_bread gave kudos
SC
scottishtv Founding member
A quick update on the last few states still counting, featuring... double magic walls.

*
MA
Meridian AM
CNNI showing US until 7pm.
We have seen many CNNI faces back on air reporting and presenting so far today, including Julia Chatterley, Becky Anderson, Nic Robertson, Christiane Amanpour and John Defterios.
Richars Quest's programme is scheduled for 8pm as usual too! 😀

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