/ 05.04.2011 12:00AM
Presidential Address on Death of Bin Laden Draws 56.6 Million Viewers
NEW YORK: TV coverage of Obama’s Sunday evening
announcement that U.S. military forces killed Osama bin Laden yielded a 33.9
household rating, according to Nielsen. The address, carried live from around
11:35 to 11:44 p.m. Eastern, was carried on nine networks. The sum of the
average audience across the networks was 56,512,179 viewers. ABC, NBC, CBS,
Telemundo, Univision, CNN, Fox News Channel, Headline News and MSNBC carried
the address.
By comparison, Obama’s first press conference as president, in February of 2009,
generated a 30.8 household rating with more than 49 million viewers. His March
28. 2011 address on Libya yielded a 16.9 with 25.6 million viewers on eight
networks. An Aug. 31, 2010 address on Iraq carried by 11 networks brought in an
18.8 households rating and 29.2 million viewers. The president’s Dec. 1, 2009
speech on Afghanistan posted a 25.9 rating with 40.8 million viewers.