President Biden’s inaugural address on Wednesday drew about 1.5 million viewers more than tuned in to Donald J. Trump’s inaugural address four years ago, according to preliminary data from Nielsen.
Nearly 40 million people watched Biden’s speech on major cable news broadcasters and the three major broadcast networks. In 2017, 38.3 million viewers watched his predecessor’s first speech as president, according to Nielsen data.
CNN led the audience, attracting about 10 million viewers from 11:45 am to 12:15 pm, when Biden took center stage. Only 2.7 million watched Biden’s speech on Fox News, the lowest of the big networks and a strong reversal from four years ago, when almost 12 million viewers tuned in to Trump’s favorite cable news network.
Although significantly reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony had more star power than in 2017. Lady Gaga sang the national anthem and Jennifer Lopez sang “This Land Is Your Land” just before Biden was installed by Chief Justice John Roberts. Jackie Evancho, a former competitor on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” program, sang the national anthem in Trump’s possession four years ago.
The numbers remained stable at Biden’s festivities on Wednesday. From 11 am to 4 pm, a combined average audience of 29.4 million viewers watched the six broadcasters on Wednesday, against 27 million who watched four years ago. In the five-hour block, CNN had the largest audience (7.7 million viewers) among major cable and cable TV networks, and Fox News the lowest (2.1 million).
The numbers seemed a continuation of a qualifying trend for the so-called good news moments for Biden. On November 7, when Biden gave a prime-time victory speech several hours after the mainstream media projected him as a winner, CNN won a large number of votes and the Fox News audience withdrew.
The first Nielsen figures do not include streaming statistics, so surely the audience for both inaugurations was significantly higher. Nielsen is expected to release the final figures for Wednesday’s total audience in the coming days, which will also include some streaming data, as well as the out-of-home display in hotels or restaurants.
One thing Biden and Trump have in common: their inaugurations were not a competition for former President Barack Obama’s first speech. More than 51 million people attended Obama’s opening speech in 2009, according to Nielsen.
Wednesday’s figures may upset Trump, who often mocks television personalities for any evidence of a drop in Nielsen’s numbers. And it was not the first time that he lost in a television audience battle for Biden. In October, the two faced each other at city hall events. The broadcast with Biden, on ABC, reached 15.1 million viewers, compared to the 13.5 million who watched Trump on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC.
More than 21 million people tuned in to an opening primetime special that was shown on five of the broadcast networks and cable channels. The program, produced by the Inaugural Presidential Committee, was presented by Tom Hanks and featured performances by Bruce Springsteen, John Legend and Katy Perry.