Biden speech gets highest Nielsen rating of DNC, but 38% less than Trump in 2016

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's acceptance speech Thursday night was the highest-rated event of the four-night Democrat National Convention, but his audience fell far below Donald Trump’s 2016 acceptance speech, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Biden’s speech was watched by 21.8 million TV viewers, according to early Nielsen numbers, compared to 34.9 million for Trump's speech four years ago at the Republican National Convention, That's a a 38% difference. 

The Biden viewership number was also 21% less than Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. 

The Biden number does not include online streaming of the speech and is expected to increase when more networks are added, according to The Hill newspaper. 

Biden was forced to give his speech from his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, because of the coronavirus, and not at the convention site in Milwaukee. 

Clinton and Trump gave their arena-filled speeches, respectively, in Philadelphia and Cleveland.

The Republican National Convention next week, in which Trump is scheduled to accept the party nomination for a second term, will also be broadcast remotely.