WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address drew an average of 48 million viewers Wednesday night. It was down 7 percent from President Bush’s first State of the Union address Jan. 29, 2009, and up 5 percent from President Clinton’s on Jan 25, 1994. Obama’s address was carried live from 9 p.m. to 10:20 p.m. EAST on 11 networks. Total viewership was aggregated from all networks--ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, BET, CNBS, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.
Viewership numbers for Obama’s previous speeches include:
40.8 million for December’s address on troop deployments in Afghanistan.
32.1 million for a September address to a joint session of Congress.
24.7 million for the July speech on health care reform.
28.8 million in April for the speech marking his first 100 days in office.
40.4 million in March for an address on the economy.
52.4 million for a February health-care reform speech to Congress.
49.5 million for the February talk on the stimulus plan.
