33.3 Million Tune in to Watch Pres. Obama’s State of the Union Address
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014 President Barack Obama delivered his second State of the Union address of his second term in office. The address was carried live from 9:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. on 13 networks and tape-delayed on Univision. The sum of the average audience for those networks was 33,299,172 viewers with a combined household rating of 20.7. The networks carrying the address live were CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Azteca, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera America, Galavision and Mun2.
In terms of the address’ social nature, 8.8 million people saw at least one of the 2.1 million tweets sent in the U.S. about the “State of The Union 2014,” according to Nielsen SocialGuide. Each person in the Twitter TV Unique Audience saw, on average, 29 tweets about the TV event. Twitter activity about the airing spiked at 9:47pm, with 32,918 Tweets sent following the president’s reference to “equal pay.”
State of the Union, Jan. 28, 2014
Networks | Combined Household Ratings | No. of Households | No. of Viewers (P2+) |
---|---|---|---|
CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Azteca, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Al Jazeera America, Galavision, Mun2, UNI* | 23,949,843 | 33,299,172 | |
Source: Nielsen *Tape delay. |
Below is a historical look at past State of the Union addresses.
Historical State of the Union Addresses
Date | Networks | Combined Household Rating | Combined No. of Households | Combined No. of Viewers | President |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2/12/2013 | FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Azteca, UNI, MFX, CNBC, CNN, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Current, Centric, GALA | 21.8 | 24,767,047 | 33,497,607 | Obama |
1/24/2012 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TEL, TF, UNI, CNBC, CNN, FBN, FOXNC, GALA, MSNBC and MUN2 | 24 | 27,569,423 | 37,752,613 | Obama |
1/25/2011 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TEL, UNI, CNN, Centric, CNBC, FOXNC, and MSNBC | 26.6 | 30,871,688 | 42,789,947 | Obama |
1/27/2010 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, TEL, UNI, CNN, BET, CNBC, FOXNC, MSNBC | 29.8 | 34,182,725 | 48,009,595 | Obama |
2/24/2009* | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC, TELEMUNDO, UNIVISION | 32.5 | 37,185,000 | 52,373,000 | Obama |
1/28/2008 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC, TELEMUNDO^, UNIVISION | 24.7 | 27,702,000 | 37,515,000 | G.W Bush |
1/23/2007 | ABC, CBS, FOX**, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC, TELEMUNDO**, UNIVISION ** | 29.6 | 32,968,000 | 45,486,000 | G.W. Bush |
1/31/2006 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC | 26.9 | 29,578,000 | 41,699,000 | G.W. Bush |
TELEMUNDO, AZTECA AMERICA, TELFUTURA, TELEMUNDO | 8.4 | 950,000 | 1,480,000 | ||
2/2/2005 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC | 25.2 | 27,699,000 | 38,382,000 | G. W. Bush |
TELEMUNDO, TELEFUTURA | 6 | 660,000 | 1,050,000 | ||
1/20/2004 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, CNBC, FOXNC, MSNBC | 28 | 30,286,000 | 43,411,000 | G. W. Bush |
1/28/2003 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, CNBC, FOXNC, MSNBC | 38.8 | 41,447,000 | 62,061,000 | G. W. Bush |
1/29/2002 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, CNBC, FOXNC, MSNBC | 33.6 | 35,547,000 | 51,773,000 | G.W. Bush |
2/27/2001* | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC | 27.6 | 28,201,000 | 39,793,000 | G.W. Bush |
1/27/2000 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC | 22.4 | 22,536,000 | 31,478,000 | Clinton |
1/19/1999 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, FOXNC, MSNBC | 31 | 30,700,000 | 43,500,000 | Clinton |
1/27/1998 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN, CNBC, FOXNC, MSNBC | 37.2 | 36,513,000 | 53,077,000 | Clinton |
2/4/1997 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN | 28.4 | 27,600,000 | 41,100,000 | Clinton |
1/23/1996 | ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN | 29.6 | 28,400,000 | 40,900,000 | Clinton |
1/24/1995 | ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN | 29.5 | 28,100,000 | 42,200,000 | Clinton |
1/25/1994 | ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN | 32.9 | 31,000,000 | 45,800,000 | Clinton |
2/17/1993* | ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN | 44.3 | 41,200,000 | 66,900,000 | Clinton |
Source: Nielsen Notes: Beginning Dec. 25, 2006, estimates on this page include live viewing plus any time-shifted viewing within the same day (defined as 3AM-3AM). *Feb. 17, 1993, Feb. 27, 2001 and Feb. 24, 2009 officially the “Address to the Joint Sessions of Congress.” ^Telemundo’s coverage was tape delayed, all other networks carried live.**OnJan. 23, 2007 the coverage of these networks goes beyond a common end time and includes the State Of The Union Address and commentary. This does not include the Democratic Response. |
https://develop.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2014/33-3-million-tune-in-to-watch-pres-obamas-state-of-the-union-address/