Some Ohioans tune out Dewine’s livesteram feed
Brown continues his Democrat success sandwiched between Trump Ohio wins
Some Ohioans have tuned out Gov. Mike Dewine.
No, it does not concern the governor's repeated pleas to wear masks, use social distancing and avoid gatherings as Ohio's COVID-19 cases spike to regular records.
The reach of the governor's livestreamed online bully pulpit has diminished.
Perhaps reflecting “COVID fatigue,” the number of Ohioans who watch DeWine's regular coronavirus news conferences live via the Ohio Channel has nose-dived since the early days of the pandemic back in March, Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow found.
From an average of nearly 87,000 views for each daily news conference in March, Dewine's Ohio Channel audience dwindled to an average of slightly more than 20,000 for each presentation during October.
Dewine's high point of live views – with all numbers combining views on the Ohio Channel and its Facebook and Youtube feeds – totaled 155,400 on April 27, when he unveiled the first details of Ohio's reopening plan for businesses.
His early-evening statewide address to Ohioans on July 15, which was largely a stay-the-course and mask-up speech, attracted 116,500 views.
A total of 95,100 tuned in for DeWine's second statewide address on Wednesday at which he toughened mask and social gathering requirements and threatened to close restaurants, bars and gyms beginning Thursday if cases remain high.
The governor's virus audience also was boosted for months as local TV stations supplanted afternoon soap operas and talk shows to pick up the Ohio Channel feed, but stations appear largely back to their regular programming with the exception of Wednesday evening.
Still, the amount of interest shown in Dewine's briefings is historic, said Dan Shellenbarger, executive director of the Ohio Channel, a service of Ohio's public broadcasting stations.
Prior to the pandemic, the mostwatched live-streamed event was former Gov. John Kasich's second State of the State address in 2012 in Steubenville, which drew fewer than 8,000 viewers, he said.
Online viewership numbers are not available from the start of the pandemic on March 9 through March 16 because the then-unusual heavy traffic kept crashing Ohio Channel servers.
Shellenbarger gave a shout-out to state IT officials for quickly expanding the capacity to meet the demand. “Right now, we are built out to handle a Beyonce concert if needed,” he said.
Dewine's eight-month-plus string
of news conferences and addresses now have totaled a combined 4.8 million live views and about 17.3 million total views including those who watched archived versions.
Brown goes on despite Ohio Trump love
Democrats reluctant to concede Ohio as a red state after President Donald Trump posted back-to-back victories in the Buckeye State frequently point to Sen. Sherrod Brown, their most successful statewide candidate over the last decade.
Brown cruised to an easy win in the 2018 midterm election sandwiched between Trump's Ohio romps. But Brown's standing as a sitting senator from the party his state didn't support in the presidential election apparently is becoming increasingly rare, Dispatch reporter Rick Rouan notes.
Kyle Kondik, of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, pointed out in Sabato's Crystal Ball newsletter last week that only six U.S. senators represent states their party didn't win in the 2020 presidential election. That's down from 11 heading into the election, according to Kondik, an Ohio native.
The other crossover senators are Sens. Susan Collins, R-maine; Pat Toomey, R-pennsylvania; Ron Johnson, RWisconsin; Jon Tester, D-montana; and Joe Manchin, D-west Virginia.
Ohio also is unusual in that it is one of only six states with a split delegation in the U.S. Senate. Brown is joined by Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who is up for re-election in 2022. drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland