...because you have no idea how many people may be watching one set.
Otherwise, what's striking is that it means that only about 5% of Americans watched the DNC, and only 3% watched the RNC. If true, it's certainly not like the old days. where all three networks (and there were only three) offered "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of both conventions. In those days, if you watched television (and didn't live in a big city where there might be several "independent" channels showing old movies and syndicated shows, you would be watching the conventions, period.