Nielsen Wire » President Bush

49.5 Million People Watch Obama Press Conference

Nielsen Wire — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:17:28 +0000

On Monday February 9, 2009 President Barack Obama held his first prime time news conference. The conference was telecast live from 8 to 9PM on 8 networks achieving a combined 30.8 household rating with 49,455,133 viewers. The networks were ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Univision, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.

Just weeks after his inauguration in 1993 President Bill Clinton also held a prime time news conference. That event focused on the economy and was carried by 4 networks on February 15, 1993. The sum of the audience of those networks was a 42.1 household rating with 64,300,000 viewers on average.

On October 11, 2001, exactly a month after the attacks of September 11, President Bush held a prime time news conference that was carried by 7 networks. The sum of those networks’ audience from approximately 8-8:45PM was a 42.0 household rating with 64,813,000 viewers.

In 1993 the average U.S. TV home had approximately 40 channels available. By 2000 the average home had 61 channels and now that figure has increased to more than 118 channels available.

From Nixon To Bush 43: Presidential Inauguration Ratings

Nielsen Wire — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:50:18 +0000

On Tuesday, January 20th, Americans will witness history with the inauguration of the 44^th President of the United States, Barack Obama. How will this event compare with other inaugurations over the past 40 years? Nielsen has compiled data about inaugural viewership since 1969.

Key findings are:

Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inauguration drew the most viewers – almost 42 million.

First time inaugurations of two-term presidents drew higher ratings than their second (exception: Nixon in 1973).

The least watched inauguration since 1969: George W. Bush in 2005, with 15.5 million.

Click this link for complete inauguration ratings 1969-2005

PRESIDENT	DATE	Viewers P2+
G.W.Bush	1/20/2005	15,536,652
G.W.Bush	1/20/2001	29,008,200
Clinton	1/20/1997	21,583,000
Clinton	1/20/1993	29,721,041
G.H.Bush	1/20/1989	23,316,325
Reagan	1/20/1985	25,053,886
Reagan	1/20/1981	41,800,260
Carter	1/20/1977	34,127,090
Nixon	1/20/1973	32,950,900
Nixon	1/20/1969	27,007,700
Source: © 2009 The Nielsen Company

52.7 Million Watched President Bush’s Economic Crisis Address

admin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:16:29 +0000

52.7 million viewers tuned in for President Bush’s speech on the U.S. economic crisis, which aired live Wednesday night from approximately 9:00pm to 9:15pm EST on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

	Rating	Average Audience Number
All Households	33.2	38,031,000
Persons 2+	18.2	52,653,000
Source: The Nielsen Company (September 24, 2008)
Note: Sum of audience estimates for ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

As a comparison, TV ratings for selected major news events throughout the past two decades are included below.

Event	Number of Networks	Date	Average Combined Household Rating	Average Number of Viewers (P2+)
President Ford’s Funeral	8	1/2/2007	11.3	15,028,000
Michael Jackson Trial Verdict	11 – English Language	6/13/2005	21.1	28,115,000
Michael Jackson Trial Verdict	2 – Spanish Language	6/13/2005	14.7	2,470,000
State of the Union	7	1/19/1999	31	43,500,000
Clinton’s Grand Jury Testimony	6	9/21/1998	18.8	22,500,000
Clinton’s Apology Address to Country	8	8/17/1998	46.9	67,600,000
Princess Diana’s Funeral–Sat 6-8am	8	9/6/1997	26.6	33,252,000
OJ Simpson Verdict	10	10/5/1995	42.9	53,925,000
State of Union-Clinton	5	1/25/1994	32.9	45,800,000
Clinton Address re: Health Care	4	9/22/1993	32.8	47,700,000
Joint Session of Congress by Clinton	4	2/17/1993	44.3	66,900,000
Clinton Address on the Economy	4	2/15/1993	42.1	64,300,000
Bush News Conference re: LA Riots	5	5/1/1991	37.1	54,600,000
Gulf War Day One	4	1/16/1991	54.3	85,600,000
Source: The Nielsen Company (2007)

View the full media alert.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in TV Week.