By Aditya Soni
Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's speech on the opening night of the Republican midterm convention drew about 2.5 million viewers on Fox News, according to Nielsen data, potentially undercutting his claim the event "beat the NFL" opening night.
Fox News was the only major cable network to carry Trump's roughly two-hour address in full. The Murdoch family-controlled network averaged 2.5 million viewers during the speech, ahead of MS NOW's 1 million and CNN's 441,000 in the same
window.
Trump used the convention to appeal to voters to treat November's midterm elections as a referendum on him.
He urged voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot" during the two-day gathering that kicked off what Republicans hope will be a Trump-focused campaign aimed at galvanizing the party's base and recreating the turnout that powered his 2016 and 2024 election victories.
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said the gathering was "far bigger, better, and more important than anyone thought possible" and that "the overall numbers beat the NFL," without specifying figures or methodology.
The convention coincided with the NFL season opener between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
Ratings for the game are not yet available, but the NFL averaged about 18 million viewers per game last season, and last year's opener drew close to 28 million.
(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
