Ratings: Univision Wins Night By Skipping State of the Union

ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox decline double digits from last year's State of the Union Address

Ratings for the State of the Union Address were down for the four biggest broadcast networks Tuesday as Univision won the night in the key demographic by not airing the speech, according to preliminary numbers. CBS, meanwhile, drew the night's largest total viewership.

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Ratings for President Obama's speech were down for all four of the biggest broadcast networks from last year's address.

Far more people watched the address than watched the Spanish-language Univision, but the audience for the speech was spread across many broadcast and cable networks. 

That allowed Univision to claim the highest-rating of the night in the key 18-49 demo — even though that rating was a low one, a 1.6 rating/4 share. Univision came in fourth in total viewers with 3.8 million. It aired new telenovas throughout the night.

(Univision's sister network Galavision aired the speech live, and the address was live-streamed on Univision.com.)

NBC drew second place in the key demo with a 1.4/4 and second in total viewers with 5.3 million. Following repeats of "Betty White's Off Their Rockers," coverage of the speech posted a 1.6/4 — down 20 percent from last year's coverage, but still the strongest performance among the English-language networks Tuesday night. It had 5.8 million total viewers. Analysis of the address drew a 1.0/3 — down 17 percent from last year — and drew 4.1 million total viewers.

ABC drew third place in ratings and third in total viewers with a 1.3/3 and 4.4 million. "The Taste" posted a 1.5/4, down 17 percent from last week, and had 4.7 million total viewers, while the network's coverage of the speech drew a 1.2/3 — a 14 percent drop from last year, and the least drastic drop among the networks. The speech had 4.6 million total viewers. Speech analysis combined with a "Modern Family" repeat posted a 0.9/3 and 3.3 million total viewers.

CBS took fourth in ratings and first in total viewers with a 1.2/3 and 6.9 million. An "NCIS: LA" repeat posted a 1.5/4 and had the night's largest audience with 9.1 million. The network's speech coverage dropped 27 percent from last year to a 1.1/3 with 6.2 million total viewers, while post-speech analysis, coupled with a "Mike and Molly" repeat, drew a 0.8/2 and 4.5 million.

Fox came in fifth in ratings and total viewers with a 1.0/2 and 2.5 million. Following repeats of "Raising Hope" and "New Girl," the network's coverage of the address plunged 47 percent from last year, when the speech had an "American Idol" lead-in. This year's speech had a 0.9/2 and drew 2.4 million total viewers for Fox.

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