January 21, 2009 13 Comments
Updated 01/27: The updated %figures and chart reflect updated data relative to select West Coast markets.
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The combined overall household rating for the inauguration of President Barack Obama in the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains TV meters was 30.1%.
The Raleigh-Durham market had the largest TV audience with more than 51% of households tuned in to the day’s events.
| Rank by HH Rating | Market Name | Market Rank by Number of TV Households |
Household Rating % of TV households in market tuned in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raleigh-Durham (Fayetvlle) | 27 | 51.2 |
| 2 | Washington, DC (Hagrstwn) | 9 | 47.7 |
| 3 | Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt Nws | 43 | 46.7 |
| 4 | Baltimore | 26 | 44.3 |
| 5 | Greensboro-H.Point-W.Salem | 46 | 42.3 |
| 6 | Charlotte | 24 | 40.8 |
| 7 | West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce | 38 | 39.6 |
| 8 | Memphis | 48 | 39.4 |
| 9 | Richmond-Petersburg | 58 | 37.2 |
| 10 | Greenvll-Spart-Ashevll-And | 36 | 35.9 |
| 11 | Birmingham (Ann and Tusc) | 40 | 35.7 |
| 12 | Miami-Ft. Lauderdale | 16 | 35.5 |
| 13 | Knoxville | 59 | 35.3 |
| 14 | Ft. Myers-Naples | 62 | 33.8 |
| 15 | Las Vegas | 42 | 33.4 |
| 16 | Kansas City | 31 | 32.9 |
| 17 | Philadelphia | 4 | 32.5 |
| 18 | Nashville | 29 | 31.6 |
| 19 | Columbus, OH | 32 | 31.3 |
| 19 | New Orleans | 53 | 31.3 |
| 21 | Buffalo | 51 | 31.0 |
| 22 | Detroit | 11 | 30.8 |
| 22 | Pittsburgh | 23 | 30.8 |
| 24 | Providence-New Bedford | 52 | 30.0 |
| 25 | Dayton | 64 | 29.9 |
| 25 | Indianapolis | 25 | 29.9 |
| 25 | New York | 1 | 29.9 |
| 28 | Louisville | 50 | 29.7 |
| 29 | Atlanta | 8 | 29.3 |
| 29 | Hartford & New Haven | 30 | 29.3 |
| 31 | Oklahoma City | 45 | 29.2 |
| 32 | San Antonio | 37 | 28.9 |
| 33 | Cincinnati | 34 | 28.6 |
| 33 | Jacksonville | 47 | 28.6 |
| 35 | Albuquerque-Santa Fe | 44 | 28.5 |
| 36 | Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn | 19 | 28.3 |
| 37 | San Diego | 28 | 28.2 |
| 38 | Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota) | 13 | 28.0 |
| 39 | St. Louis | 21 | 27.9 |
| 40 | Chicago | 3 | 27.8 |
| 41 | Cleveland-Akron (Canton) | 17 | 27.2 |
| 42 | Houston | 10 | 26.9 |
| 43 | Los Angeles | 2 | 26.6 |
| 44 | Portland, OR | 22 | 25.9 |
| 44 | Sacramnto-Stkton-Modesto | 20 | 25.9 |
| 44 | San Francisco-Oak-San Jose | 6 | 25.9 |
| 47 | Tulsa | 61 | 25.8 |
| 48 | Milwaukee | 35 | 25.7 |
| 49 | Boston (Manchester) | 7 | 25.4 |
| 49 | Seattle-Tacoma | 14 | 25.4 |
| 51 | Austin | 49 | 25.1 |
| 52 | Dallas-Ft. Worth | 5 | 24.6 |
| 53 | Salt Lake City | 33 | 23.7 |
| 54 | Minneapolis-St. Paul | 15 | 23.6 |
| 55 | Phoenix (Prescott) | 12 | 22.4 |
| 56 | Denver | 18 | 21.8 |
| ©2009 The Nielsen Company | |||
See previous ratings for presidential elections here.
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Tags: Barack Obama, local ratings, Presidential Inauguration, presidential politics, Raleigh, Seattle, tv viewers
[...] 21st, 2009 Ratings Shock Posted by Tom Bevan | Email This | Permalink | Email Author Well, this is a bit of a shock: the liberal, latte-drinking capital of the universe - Seattle, Washington (which is also my [...]
For those outside of NC…the viewership in Raleigh/Durham led the nation because we got 4″ of snow Monday night, and most of this area was closed on Tuesday (schools, offices, etc.).
Raleigh/Durham voted overwhelmingly for Obama/Biden. But the snow – and not the political support – is the likely cause of the huge numbers here.
I don’t get it. The bottom three — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco — are three of the bluest areas of the country. Maybe it’s the Internet but that still sounds screwy. I live in Portland and everybody I talk to mentions that they watch the swearing-in. Makes no sense to me.
Is there a conspiracy here?
This does not even come close to how many watched using the internet or other wireless device.
I did see where Google noticed that searches were down during this event though.
To Michael Hatten:
I wonder if the reason it was low in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco is that those are three very wired cities with people likely to have watched streaming online rather than TV/cable broadcasts of the inauguration?
Alternately, since those are such blue areas, their numbers might be lower than the rest because so many were actually in the National Mall for the festivities.
It’s possible that the “bluer” areas saw lower & of household numbers because more people got together for viewing parties, thus decreasing the total number of TVs used. I know many people, including myself, at my University gathered in a few bunch of the auditoriums on campus to watch the inauguration with others.
I meant lower %*
Almost everyone I know watched at least part of it online. I watched everything online until the Balls in the evening. Nielsen tells you who has their TV on but doesn’t tell you who actually watched.
Also, the bottom 4 markets are all Pacific time zones, which put the inauguration on at 9:00 a.m. Does anyone think that the earlier time of day had an impact?
Looks pretty simply explained to me. Look at the Bottom 10. The event took place at 9 a.m. in San Diego, Salt Lake, LA, Phoenix, Denver, Sacramento, SF, Portland and Seattle. That’s the start of the workday, not the noon-hour lunch break of all those East Coast bias cities. I notice the ratings in the middle weren’t so robust in the Central Time zone either.
Does this account for the mass group viewings? A lot of people went to convention centers, churches, lodges, etc. to view with large groups…so the viewing percentage is still a bit deceiving.
boston, everyone was at work.. we all watched either on TV’s or the internet. It’s not like this was at 7pm at night… people have to make money.
Hi. Outstanding job. This is a great article. Thanks!
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