More than 22 million people tuned in to watch Donald Trump’s wife Melania address the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, as some cable news outlets boosted their audiences significantly compared with 2012, according to Nielsen.

In the 10 p.m. EDT hour in which Mrs. Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke, Fox News averaged 6.35 million viewers and CNN drew 3.94 million viewers, while MSNBC attracted almost 2 million viewers.

In 2012, Fox News averaged 6.89 million viewers in the 10 p.m. hour, almost 8% higher than last night. However, CNN’s audience more than doubled from the 1.47 million it averaged in 2012. MSNBC viewership was up 35%.

Most of the convention audience opted to watch on cable versus traditional broadcast television. Among the broadcast networks, NBC news was first in the 10 p.m. hour with 3.91 million viewers, followed by ABC with 3.64 million and CBS with 2.69 million. Mrs. Trump’s speech won praise from some on-air pundits after it was delivered but has since sparked controversy over similarities with one delivered by first lady Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic convention. Shortly after Melania Trump’s prime-time television performance, social media began focusing on similarities between her speech and one Michelle Obama gave in 2008. This year’s GOP event has been unusual in many respects. The first night’s speaking lineup included reality TV star Willie Robertson from “Duck Dynasty” and former sitcom actor Scott Baio. In a break with tradition, Mr. Trump himself made a brief appearance to introduce his wife. He came on stage to the classic Queen song “We Are the Champions.” The broadcast networks didn’t cover the first night of the 2012 convention. Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com

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