Position on the Forbes list? Crowd size? Hand size?
No, the former guy’s most consistent yardstick of his own or anyone else’s value is Nielsen ratings. As was noted long before he descended his golden escalator, no greater praise or condemnation exists for the fellow than in the readout of viewing households.
Football any good? Check the ratings. How 'bout the news? What do the ratings say? The former president even graded the effectiveness of his Covid-19 briefings through Nielsen’s lens:
From his days as a loose-boweled reality star through his White House turn and beyond, nothing in this world matters more to Donald John Trump than the ratings.
So, how did his loathed “Unselect” Committee do? Not bad, actually.
More than 19 million people watched the first prime-time hearing of the House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on Thursday night, according to preliminary ratings figures from Nielsen.
That number will grow in the coming hours, as more networks are tallied and out-of-home viewing is factored in. Nielsen is expected to have a final viewership figure on Friday evening.
…
Though the Thursday night figure pales next to presidential debates (63 million to 73 million) or this year’s State of the Union address (38 million), it’s still much larger than the audience that would normally watch a daytime congressional hearing. And it’s in the ballpark of television events like a big “Sunday Night Football” game or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
I’ll take Macy’s parade ratings for an opening night. Especially noting there were no dance numbers.
Perhaps most telling in the early numbers were the “stays.” (Bolding added).
Viewers who tuned in mostly stuck around for the entire congressional proceeding. Viewership on each of the broadcast networks remained steady between 8 and 10 p.m., according to half-hour Nielsen breakdowns.
So, not Must Flee TV, apparently.
As television ratings are as oxygen to the former president, he has continuously lied over the years about his own drawing power. So I thought it might be interesting to compare last night’s “FAKE NEWS” from “Political HACKS” and its “more than 19 million viewers” with Himself’s own glory days. Survey says…
Well, there you have it. Nearly 20 years ago, in its debut season, Trump’s “highest-rated” show did top the viewer numbers for last night’s committee hearing.
Maybe.
Nielsen’s numbers released this afternoon cover the broadcast networks and the two actual news networks on cable. They say there are a number of smaller outlets and non-TV platforms to tally, so Himself may prove to be the “low-energy loser” in the competition that means most to him.
Update:
Per Hollywood Reporter, the hearing’s reading at 20.04 million views. Let’s hope some web action kicks that up past Himself’s best. www.hollywoodreporter.com/...