That’s the tally from The Nielsen Company for viewing of President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address on Wednesday evening. Combined viewing across 11 broadcast and cable networks produced an average audience of just over 48 million.
The networks carrying the address were ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TEL, UNI, CNN, BET, CNBC, FOXNC, and MSNBC. In all, the address was watched by 34,182,725 households, with an average 2+ viewership of 48,009,595.
How does that compare to past presidents? Viewership to President Obama’s first State of the Union was down 7% from President Bush’s first official State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, but up 5% from President Clinton’s first official address on January 25, 1994, The Nielsen Company reported.
