NewsMax caught red-handed shamelessly inflating its Trump rally ratings
Far-right cable broadcaster Newsmax bragged about its ratings during Donald Trump's Saturday campaign rally in Sarasota, Florida.
Trump had given the network an exclusive interview before he took the stage.
The network claimed Nielsen TV ratings showed 3 million viewers had tuned in to the network's coverage.
But Daily Beast contributing editor Justin Baragona responded to the claim with a fact-check.
"This is absolutely not true," Baragona posted to Twitter.
"According to actual Nielsen numbers, 1.155 million total viewers tuned in to Newsmax to watch Trump's rally on Saturday night during the 9 pm hour. During the 8 pm hour, when Trump's speech started, Newsmax averaged 877,000 viewers," he explained.
"It appears Newsmax is using fuzzy math to claim 3 million viewers for its Trump rally coverage. What they seem to be doing is adding each hour together to get a total (that's not how this works!)," he noted.
Combining the four hours between the 7 pm and 10 pm time slots results in a combined total of 2,974,000 views, but could be counting the same person four different times.
This is absolutely not true. According to actual Nielsen numbers, 1.155 million total viewers tuned in to Newsmax… https://t.co/3EUiWbglpg
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) 1625778341.0
Watch Newsmax's exclusive interview:
Trump speaks to Newsmax before Florida rally www.youtube.com