Biden’s State of the Union Audience Craters, Fox News Tops All of Television

 

Joe Biden at SOTU

President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday brought in an estimated roughly 24.1 million viewers across the major cable news networks and the top four broadcast news channels – with Fox News leading the pack for the second year in a row.

Nielsen estimated late on Wednesday that the total audience reached 27.3 million total viewers, a 29 percent drop from the previous year.

The early numbers showed a dip in viewers from 2022, which brought in some 38.2 million total viewers. 33.83 million of those viewers watched on the four main broadcast networks — ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox — and cable news networks Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC.

Fox News scored 4.69 million total viewers and 846,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic, which is heavily favored by advertisers. While Fox News led all of television in total viewers, ABC topped in the demo with 1.075 million viewers, while NBC came in second and Fox News landed third.

In total viewers, ABC came in second behind Fox News with 4.4 million viewers, followed by NBC’s 3.78 million total viewers. Fox News was down significantly from 2022, when it brought in 7.21 million viewers to lead all of television, ABC also dipped from its 6.3 million viewers last year.

On cable news, MSNBC came in second place with 3.55 million total viewers, which landed the network in fifth place overall. CNN brought in 2.39 million total viewers and a strong 646,000 demo viewers. MSNBC came in third on cable news in the demo with 496,000 viewers.

CNN’s total marks the network’s smallest audience for a State of the Union since 2014 — a 50 percent drop from last year’s 4.83 million total viewers.

Adobe Analytics also reported that unique device use increased 25 percent during the speech compared to 2022, which may help explain the overall decrease in viewers.

To put the ratings in historical context, Bill Clinton’s 1994 State of the Union averaged some 45.8 million total viewers, similar to Donald Trump’s SOTU in 2018, which averaged 45.55 million. George W. Bush’s post-9/11 address in 2002 raked in 51.77 million total viewers.

Editor’s note: This article was updated as more data became available

Here is a full breakdown of Tuesday’s cable news ratings by show:

Total Viewers (thousands)

ET FNC CNN MSNBC NEWSMAX NEWSNATION
6a FOX AND FRIENDS:
933
CNN THIS MORNING:
292
MORNING JOE:
840
ROB CARSONS WHAT IN THE:
37
EARLY MORNING:
11
7a FOX AND FRIENDS:
1254
CNN THIS MORNING:
383
WAKE UP AMERICA:
86
MORNING IN AMERICA:
33
8a FOX AND FRIENDS:
1582
CNN THIS MORNING:
482
9a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
1710
CNN NEWSROOM:
515
MORNING JOE:
852
NATIONAL REPORT:
147
10a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
1742
CNN NEWSROOM:
612
JOSE DIAZ-BALART REPORTS:
600
NWSN LIVE W/ MARNI HUGHES:
26
11a FAULKNER FOCUS, THE:
1651
AT THIS HOUR:
641
MSNBC REPORTS- LIVE:
508
12p OUTNUMBERED:
1734
INSIDE POLITICS:
574
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS:
471
JOHN BACHMAN NOW:
106
BLUE BLOODS:
76
1p AMERICA REPORTS:
1470
CNN NEWSROOM:
547
CHRIS JANSING REPORTS:
506
BLUE BLOODS:
165
2p AMERICA REPORTS:
1439
CNN NEWSROOM:
578
KATY TUR REPORTS:
591
AMERICAN AGENDA:
118
BLUE BLOODS:
223
3p STORY, THE:
1577
CNN NEWSROOM:
611
HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS:
595
BLUE BLOODS:
248
4p YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO:
1538
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
614
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE:
1245
CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE:
148
BLUE BLOODS:
263
5p FIVE, THE:
3402
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
664
SPICER & CO:
113
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR:
103
6p SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER:
2582
SITUATION ROOM:
659
BEAT W/ARI MELBER:
1250
RECORD WITH GRETA VAN SUS:
131
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR:
63
7p JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME:
2921
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT:
840
REIDOUT:
1201
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT:
177
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT:
44
8p TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT:
3724
ANDERSON COOPER 360:
1239
MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
2286
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE:
163
CUOMO:
99
9p STATE OF THE UNION 2023:
4695 [9:09 PM-10:21 PM]
STATE OF THE UNION 2023:
2411 [9:08 PM-10:22 PM]
STATE OF THE UNION ADD:
3569 [9:09 PM-10:21 PM]
PRIME NEWS:
252
STATE OF THE UNION 2023:
97
10p ST UNION/ANALYSIS:
4797 [10:22 PM-10:46 PM]
STATE OF UNION ANALYSIS:
2227 [10:23 PM-10:46 PM]
MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
3688 [10:22 PM-10:46 PM]
GREG KELLY REPORTS:
302
11p HANNITY:
3035 [11:03 PM-11:59 PM]
STATE OF UNION ANALYSIS:
1137
MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
2086 [11:02 PM-11:59 PM]
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT:
145

25-54 Demo (thousands)

ET FNC CNN MSNBC NEWSMAX NEWSNATION
6a FOX AND FRIENDS:
143
CNN THIS MORNING:
55
MORNING JOE:
117
ROB CARSONS WHAT IN THE:
0
EARLY MORNING:
4
7a FOX AND FRIENDS:
178
CNN THIS MORNING:
84
WAKE UP AMERICA:
3
MORNING IN AMERICA:
7
8a FOX AND FRIENDS:
176
CNN THIS MORNING:
107
9a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
191
CNN NEWSROOM:
87
MORNING JOE:
93
NATIONAL REPORT:
24
10a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
212
CNN NEWSROOM:
96
JOSE DIAZ-BALART REPORTS:
72
NWSN LIVE W/ MARNI HUGHES:
5
11a FAULKNER FOCUS, THE:
220
AT THIS HOUR:
119
MSNBC REPORTS- LIVE:
67
12p OUTNUMBERED:
222
INSIDE POLITICS:
101
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS:
70
JOHN BACHMAN NOW:
6
BLUE BLOODS:
11
1p AMERICA REPORTS:
204
CNN NEWSROOM:
95
CHRIS JANSING REPORTS:
71
BLUE BLOODS:
25
2p AMERICA REPORTS:
178
CNN NEWSROOM:
96
KATY TUR REPORTS:
71
AMERICAN AGENDA:
7
BLUE BLOODS:
31
3p STORY, THE:
197
CNN NEWSROOM:
94
HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS:
72
BLUE BLOODS:
17
4p YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO:
217
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
109
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE:
127
CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE:
13
BLUE BLOODS:
12
5p FIVE, THE:
370
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
132
SPICER & CO:
12
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR:
4
6p SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER:
314
SITUATION ROOM:
140
BEAT W/ARI MELBER:
115
RECORD WITH GRETA VAN SUS:
6
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR:
3
7p JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME:
367
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT:
206
REIDOUT:
141
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT:
13
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT:
5
8p TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT:
635
ANDERSON COOPER 360:
321
MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
299
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE:
29
CUOMO:
25
9p STATE OF THE UNION 2023:
853 [9:09 PM-10:21 PM]
STATE OF THE UNION 2023:
651 [9:08 PM-10:22 PM]
STATE OF THE UNION ADD:
500 [9:09 PM-10:21 PM]
PRIME NEWS:
35
STATE OF THE UNION 2023:
22
10p ST UNION/ANALYSIS:
849 [10:22 PM-10:46 PM]
STATE OF UNION ANALYSIS:
581 [10:23 PM-10:46 PM]
MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
496 [10:22 PM-10:46 PM]
GREG KELLY REPORTS:
29
11p HANNITY:
537 [11:03 PM-11:59 PM]
STATE OF UNION ANALYSIS:
301
MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
313 [11:02 PM-11:59 PM]
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT:
16

As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

Total viewers:

CNN: 767,000

Fox News: 2.21 million

MSNBC: 1.21 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 174,000

Fox News: 326,000

MSNBC: 163,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

Total viewers:

CNN: 1.93 million

Fox News: 4.38 million

MSNBC: 3.02 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 516,000

Fox News: 775,000

MSNBC: 412,000

For more ratings information and analysis go to ShowBuzz Daily.

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing