NEW YORK -- Around 20.6 million people tuned in to watch President Obama’s Inauguration on television on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, according to Nielsen. Eighteen networks aired live coverage from approximately 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The U.S. TV household number that tuned in totaled just over 16 million, yielding a 14 rating for the all-day event.
By comparison, nearly 29 million U.S. TV households tuned into the 2009 Inauguration event, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST Jan. 20, 2009, yielding a 25.5 rating. The audience totaled 37.8 million people (aged two and above).
Networks that carried 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. coverage and factored into the viewing numbers included ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, Telemundo, Azteca, MundoFox, PBS, Fox News Channel, CNN Headline News, Fox Business Network, MSNBC, TV One, CNN, Current TV, CNBC, Centric and BET.
The networks included the 2009 full-day count were ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBCA, BET, CNN, ox News Channel, MSNBC, and TVOne. Telemundo, CNBC, ESPN, CNN Headline News, MTV, MTV2, MTVTR3S contributed to the total with programming that aired between around 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. EST.
Historic ratings are listed in the table below:
Date (Jan. 20)
President
HH Rating
Total HHs
Persons+2
2009 – Tue
Barack Obama
25.5
28,906,000
37,793,000
2005 – Thu
George W. Bush
11.8
12,928,709
15,536,652
2001 – Sat
George W. Bush
20.8
21,346,400
29,008,200
1997- Mon
Bill Clinton
17.1
16,515,000
21,583,000
1993 – Wed
Bill Clinton
24.5
22,758,111
29,721,041
1989 – Fri
George H.W. Bush
20.0
18,106,000
23,316,325
1985 – Sun
Ronald Reagan
22.3
18,925,556
25,053,886
1981 – Tue
Ronald Reagan
37.4
29,100,000
41,800,260
1977 – Thu
Jimmy Carter
31.5
22,430,000
34,127,090
1973 – Sat
Richard Nixon
28.5
18,470,000
32,950,900
1969 – Mon
Richard Nixon
33.5
18,870,000
27,007,700
Source: Nielsen
