52.7 Million Watched President Bush’s Economic Crisis Address

52.7 million viewers tuned in for President Bush’s speech on the U.S. economic crisis, which aired live Wednesday night from approximately 9:00pm to 9:15pm EST on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.
Rating | Average Audience Number |
|
---|---|---|
All Households | 33.2 | 38,031,000 |
Persons 2+ | 18.2 | 52,653,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company (September 24, 2008) | ||
Note: Sum of audience estimates for ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC. |
As a comparison, TV ratings for selected major news events throughout the past two decades are included below.
Event | Number of Networks | Date | Average Combined Household Rating | Average Number of Viewers (P2+) |
---|---|---|---|---|
President Ford’s Funeral | 8 | 1/2/2007 | 11.3 | 15,028,000 |
Michael Jackson Trial Verdict | 11 – English Language | 6/13/2005 | 21.1 | 28,115,000 |
Michael Jackson Trial Verdict | 2 – Spanish Language | 6/13/2005 | 14.7 | 2,470,000 |
State of the Union | 7 | 1/19/1999 | 31 | 43,500,000 |
Clinton’s Grand Jury Testimony | 6 | 9/21/1998 | 18.8 | 22,500,000 |
Clinton’s Apology Address to Country | 8 | 8/17/1998 | 46.9 | 67,600,000 |
Princess Diana’s Funeral–Sat 6-8am | 8 | 9/6/1997 | 26.6 | 33,252,000 |
OJ Simpson Verdict | 10 | 10/5/1995 | 42.9 | 53,925,000 |
State of Union-Clinton | 5 | 1/25/1994 | 32.9 | 45,800,000 |
Clinton Address re: Health Care | 4 | 9/22/1993 | 32.8 | 47,700,000 |
Joint Session of Congress by Clinton | 4 | 2/17/1993 | 44.3 | 66,900,000 |
Clinton Address on the Economy | 4 | 2/15/1993 | 42.1 | 64,300,000 |
Bush News Conference re: LA Riots | 5 | 5/1/1991 | 37.1 | 54,600,000 |
Gulf War Day One | 4 | 1/16/1991 | 54.3 | 85,600,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company (2007) |
View the full media alert.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in TV Week.
https://develop.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2008/bush-economic-address/