NEW YORK (AP) President Donald Trump’s second inauguration drew the lowest television viewership for the quadrennial event since Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, with an estimated 24.6 million viewers.
The Nielsen Company reported on Tuesday that the number of watchers had decreased from 33.8 million for Joe Biden’s inaugural in 2021 and 30.6 million for Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.
From a peak of 41.8 million when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 to a low of 15.5 million at the beginning of George W. Bush’s second term in 2004, the number of people who watched the inauguration has fluctuated significantly throughout the previous 50 years.
It’s possible that Trump’s bragging rights were harmed by the duration of the coverage of his inauguration. The average number of viewers turning in to coverage on one of 15 networks between 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Eastern is 24.6 million. Because the coverage was shorter in previous years, averages were probably higher because people tend to check out as the day wears on.
For instance, Nielsen did not immediately estimate the number of viewers of Trump until 4 p.m. Eastern, which is when most previous inauguration coverage ends.
Fox News Channel had 10.3 million viewers between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Monday, when Trump was sworn in and delivered his inaugural address, so it’s clear where the majority of people were. According to Nielsen, during that same time frame, ABC boasted 4.7 million viewers, NBC 4.4 million, CBS 4.1 million, CNN 1.7 million, and MSNBC 848,000.
Just 2.4 million people watched Biden’s inauguration on Fox News four years ago, while 13.4 million watched it on CNN and MSNBC.