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Former President Bill Clinton applauds as first lady Michelle Obama speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. | AP Photo TV Ratings: Night one of DNC tops night one of RNC

Night one of the Democratic National Convention delivered approximately 26 million viewers during the 10 p.m.-11:30 p.m. time period, topping night one of the Republican National Convention last week, which drew approximately 23 million viewers, according to preliminary ratings data from Nielsen.

Those figures do not include people watching on TV networks not rated by Nielsen, like C-SPAN, or that streamed the convention online.

The total viewership figure is up from 2008, when 22.3 million viewers tuned into night one. It is very close to 2012’s opening night, which drew 26.3 million viewers.

During the 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. time period, CNN was tops in total viewers with 6.2 million, followed by MSNBC with 4.6 million, NBC with 4.3 million, ABC with 4.1 million, Fox News with 3.3 million and CBS with 3.2 million.

In prime time from 8 p.m. to11 p.m, CNN led cable news with 5.1 million viewers, MSNBC placed second with 3.75 million viewers and Fox News averaged 3.73 million viewers.

