In The Arena: Democrats Go Overtime For A Star-Filled Night, But In The Digital Age It May Not Matter
Oprah Winfrey’s surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention, in which she made the case for Kamala Harris and against Donald Trump, certainly electrified the United Center, but one moment from the third evening stood out in particular.
That was when Tim Walz spoke about he and his wife’s long challenges with infertility, and then about his family, and his son Gus stood up and said, “That’s my Dad!” It quickly became one of the night’s viral moments.
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For the third night in a row, the convention went into overtime in the ET, potentially losing the TV audience, but the campaign is suggesting that it may not matter all that much.
The convention has so far drawn a larger audience than the same time periods of the Republican National Convention.
“We’ve outpaced them every night so far this convention,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said this morning. “So folks are absolutely tuning in.”
But he said that tells only part of the story: “We’re also understanding the nature of the American electorate in 2024,” he said. “This is not simply a made-for-TV event as we move forward. This is increasingly making sure we are reaching voters across all platforms.”
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The DNC has credentialed 200 digital content creators — i.e. influencers — in addition to providing them a crescent-shaped pen on the convention floor. There’s also the blue carpet at the United Center, with figures like Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) spending a great deal of time doing short-video interviews and posing for selfies with social media personalities.
According to Nielsen’s latest figures, 20.8 million watched on the convention’s second night, but just 950,000 were in the 18-34 age group. The DNC said that when it comes to “partner-created” digital content, the convention drew 55 million views.
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On Wednesday, producers packed in plenty of speeches from the party’s younger stars — including Josh Shapiro and Pete Buttigieg — but also made the night a display of the party’s celebrity support: In addition to Winfrey there was John Legend and Sheila E., in an homage to Prince, along with Stevie Wonder and Maren Morris.
Other speakers seemed specifically designed to take off on social media platforms, including a speech from content creator Carlos Eduardo Espina and an appearance by Kenan Thompson, who delivered a Saturday Night Live-like skit that skewered Project 2025.
Democrats typically get attacked by Republicans for overdoing it with their star quotient, but the Donald Trump era has made that argument a bit less potent, what with the former president finishing his final night with Hulk Hogan and Ted Nugent, plus a Las Vegas-style unveiling of the party nominee.
There continues to be buzz about what’s in store for the final night, with rumors about Beyonce and the expected appearance of Pink.
Alex Hornbrook, executive director of the Democratic National Convention Committee, said that the celebrities, including Winfrey, are a recognition that “we are living at a time of a very fractured media environment..Those are folks who help us reach segments of Americans who may not be watching TV news or other sources.”
On the convention floor on Wednesday, the crush of people was so great that convention volunteers tried some crowd control: fabric ropes to try to direct the flow between the delegates. The night earlier, one volunteer said, it got so overwhelmed that it came to a standstill. Told that the new blockades were probably smart, the volunteer quipped, “You are the first one not to call me the devil.”
A big reason for the crush is that so many people were trying to do doing interviews, standups and short-form video, to the point that it was difficult to discern who was from traditional media and who was a so-called “digital” creator.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) noted the presence of TikTok, Instagram and podcast creators as a way to reach young people. “Before, when [the convention] was only on three networks, people could just tune it out. Here, I think it makes its way across society.”
Roaming the halls were also figures on the right, including Charlie Kirk. He was confronted by 13-year-old Knowa De Brasco, a Democratic content creator, creating his own moment. The teenager later landed an interview — or argument, for that matter — with mustache-less Mike Lindell, as he continued to make stolen election claims.
In 2012, Clint Eastwood famously spoke to an empty chair on the final night of the Republican National Convention, overshadowing nominee Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. So there probably is some reason for caution as Democrats enlist a few more celebrities for the grand finale in the name of audience reach. Then again, it’s a battle for attention in the TikTok era. If Hulk Hogan can get some social media traction for tearing off his shirt on the RNC stage, maybe the bar isn’t so high anymore.
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