President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Feb. 7 brought the second smallest television audience in 30 years, with around 27.3 million people tuning in.
Data released by the Nielson company on Feb. 8 indicated that viewership across the major television networks was down 28 percent from the 38.2 million viewers of Biden’s speech in 2022.
Since 1993, the only smaller audience was the 26.9 million people who watched Biden’s speech to Congress in 2021, which was not technically a State of the Union address since the president had only recently taken office.
According to Nielsen, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of those who watched Biden’s speech were 55 and older. Only 5 percent were under the age of 35. The speech was broadcast live on 16 different television networks.
Nielsen does not have data for addresses prior to President Bill Clinton’s inaugural address to Congress, which reached 66.9 million people in 1993 when entertainment options were limited.
The largest group of viewers came from Fox News Channel, where around 4.69 million people watched the president’s speech.
Roughly 4.41 million viewers watched on ABC, 3.78 million watched on NBC, 3.64 million on CBS, 3.55 million watched on MSNBC, and 2.4 million tuned in on CNN.
Another 1.66 million watched via the Fox broadcast network.
This data does not reflect the viewership through streaming services or social media.
Biden focused on the economy, federal regulation of large corporations, and other key controversial issues during his prime-time address. Meanwhile, some Republicans made headlines for protesting against the president from their seats.
The president encouraged Republicans in the 118th Congress to work with Democrats on key legislative issues, saying that they should follow in the footsteps of the last Congress.
In his 73-minute speech Biden challenged Republicans to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and support proposed changes to tax policies.
“No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter.”
The speech, which some believe was a warm-up for a presidential run in 2024, included remarks on gun violence, police brutality in the aftermath of Tyre Nichols’s death, health care, and the workforce.
