By Ted Johnson
Political Editor
UPDATED with final numbers: Donald Trump drew fewer viewers to his second inauguration than to his first, as well as to Joe Biden’s four years ago.
According to Nielsen on Tuesday, the inauguration drew 24.59 million viewers, compared to 33.76 million for Biden’s 2021 inauguration and 30.64 million for Trump’s first in 2021. The figures are across 15 networks and are an average from the 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m. ET time frame.
Viewership peaked in the 12:15 quarter hour, as Trump was giving his inaugural address.
According to Nielsen, 17.4 million viewers were aged 55 and above, 4.67 million were 35-54 and 1.43 million were 18-34.
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During the Trump swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address, about 27.12 million viewers tuned in during the noon-12:45 p.m. ET time frame across the three major cable news networks and the three major broadcast networks, according to early data.
Nearly 40 million watched Biden’s swearing in and inaugural address four years ago on those six networks. In 2017, about 38.3 million watched Trump’s first inauguration.
Fox News walloped the competition for Monday’s coverage, drawing 10.67 million, followed by ABC News with 4.85 million, NBC News with 4.58 million, CBS News with 4.35 million, CNN with 1.80 million and MSNBC with 880,000. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News drew 2.09 million, followed by NBC News with 1.22 million, ABC News with 1.12 million, CBS News with 966,000, CNN with 563,000 and MSNBC with 106,000.
The rankings were a predictable reflection of partisanship: Four years ago, when Biden was entering office, Fox News drew the smallest of the major networks, albeit that was 2.74 million. CNN drew the largest viewership — almost 10 million, while MSNBC garnered 6.53 million.
The figures are from Nielsen via Fox News.
Second presidential inaugurations traditionally draw far fewer viewers than the first. Barack Obama’s first inaugural in 2009 drew an average of about 37.8 million throughout the day; his second in 2013 captured about 20.6 million.
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