Joe Biden’s first official State of the Union address on Tuesday drew 33.9 million viewers across the four broadcast networks and the three major cable news channels.
ABC came out on top as primetime’s most-watched and highest-rated broadcast, drawing 6.3 million pairs of eyeballs for Biden’s speech.
However, ABC didn’t beat out Fox News Channel for views — which continues to be the most-watched cable news network. According to official numbers, Fox News amassed 7.2 million viewers for the State of the Union.
CNN and MSNBC couldn’t keep up, earning 4.8 million and 4.1 million total viewers for the speech, respectively.
ABC was first in ratings among the broadcast networks with a 0.7 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 4.6 million, according to official numbers. A rerun of “Judge Steve Harvey” got a 0.4 rating and 3.1 million total viewers at 8 p.m. At 9, a pre-analysis of the State of the Union began the hour with a 0.8 rating and 5.4 million total viewers. The address broke in at 9:09, earning a 1.09 rating and 6.3 million viewers. The Republican response to the speech, which was sandwiched by the network’s post-address analysis, earned a 0.5 rating and 3.8 million viewers at 10:32 p.m.
NBC was second in ratings with a 0.6, while CBS was second in viewers with 4.3 million. CBS came in third in ratings with a 0.4, while NBC was third in viewers with 3.2 million.
On NBC, “American Auto” had a 0.3 rating and 2 million total viewers at 8. At 8:30, “Grand Crew” had a 0.2 rating and 1.5 million viewers. The network’s pre-SOTU analysis had a 0.6 rating and 3.8 million total viewers at 9 p.m. At 9:09, the SOTU address broke in, earning a 0.9 rating and 4.7 million viewers. The Republican response to the SOTU, which was sandwiched by the network’s post-address analysis, earned a 0.4 rating and 2.6 million viewers at 10:32 p.m.
For CBS, a rerun of “FBI” received a 0.4 rating and 4.7 million total viewers at 8 p.m. At 9, the SOTU had a 0.6 rating and 4.9 million total viewers. The Republican response to the SOTU, which was sandwiched by the network’s post-address analysis, earned a 0.3 rating and 2.7 million viewers at 10:32 p.m.
Fox was fourth in ratings with a 0.3 and in total viewers with 1.7 million. At 8, “The Resident” earned a 0.2 rating and 1.3 million total viewers. The SOTU got a 0.3 rating and 1.9 million viewers.
The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 619,000. “Superman & Lois” got a 0.1 rating and 761,000 total viewers at 8 p.m. At 9, “Naomi” had a 0.1 rating and 477,000 total viewers.
We do not have early Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language broadcast networks Univision and Telemundo.