Ratings: Biden’s Inauguration Draws 4% Bigger Crowd Than Trump in 2017
Joe Biden‘s swearing-in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday amassed 39.9 million total viewers across ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel.
That represents a slightly (4 percent) larger TV audience than President Donald Trump’s actual swearing-in ceremony drew back in, gosh, what was it… 2017? It’s also the largest swearing-in audience since President Barack Obama’s first, which drew north of 50 million in 2009.
CNN’s coverage of the half-hour that included Biden’s presidential oath led the TV pack with 9.9 million total viewers, followed distantly by ABC’s 7.7 mil. Rounding out the six-network coverage were NBC (6.9 mil), MSNBC (6.5 mil), CBS (6.1 mil) and Fox News (2.7 mil).
Nielsen has yet to report the grand total for all of the hours-long Inauguration Day ceremony/proceedings. President Trump wound up averaging 30.6 million in 2017. The first Inauguration Day of other previous POTUSes drew average TV audiences as follows: Barack Obama (37.8 million, 2009), George W. Bush (29 million, 2001), Bill Clinton (29.7 million, 1993), George H.W. Bush (23.3 million, 1989), Ronald Reagan (41.8 million, 1981), Jimmy Carter (34.1 million, 1977) and Richard Nixon (27 million, 1969).
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Oh, man. The former, twice-impeached coward president who didn’t even have the decency to welcome his successor or attend his inauguration is going to absolutely love this.
His inauguration crowd size lie was the first of his administration, right? This is just poking that wound lmao
He’ll never know because of Fox News, NewsMax and OAN, plus what ever aides he still has will never report this.
They didn’t go to trumps— but that’s ok right
Who didn’t? The Obamas were at trump’s inauguration.
What are you talking about? The last time a president skipped his successor’s Inauguration was Andrew Johnson in 1869. Try cracking open a history book some time.
Not only did Biden attend the 2017 inauguration as the outgoing vice president, but President Obama AND Hillary Clinton — the woman who bested him the popular vote because MILLIONS more Americans wanted her as president than him — were there in support of the peaceful transfer of power.
Maria, turn off Fox News for good. There’s a whole world of truth waiting for you.
Time to turn off Rush Limbaugh and pick up a book.
Oh but they did, the Obama’s, Bidens, Clintons, Bushes you know like normal people
Yeah he drew a bigger inauguration crowd like he won the election cant u people ever tell the truth or are u all so brainwashed and deranged by this trash and the media that u can’t see the truth when its in black and white.God there’s no hope for you people
Nobody can make sense of your dribble, please clean it up and then we can have a discussion.
Carla Darr, the article clearly states not crowd obviously, but larger ratings who’s not listening to the truth..oh that’s right you can’t handle the truth even if it hit you in the ass!! I’d say there is no hope for you people is right sheesh!!
You poor thing.
lol… You don’t actually believe this ___, do you?
I watched on YouTube.
Icing on the cake. :D
Yes, but how did Trump’s farewell do in the ratings, hmmm? Was it covered?
Lillian, that is something that is not covered because in the real world the outgoing president would be at the inauguration of the incoming president..
Why Iris, I do believe you’re right! Silly me, what was I thinking?
That seems fitting as Biden is, at best, 4% better than Trump.
I prefer to think of him as 7 million v̶o̶t̶e̶s̶ times better. :-*
Zing!
This must hurt. We know how important ratings are for Trump.
Who?
Orange Julius Caesar. ;-)
I know this truly does not matter and it’s the type of stuff that the last guy would care about, but it’s delicious to know.
Most refreshing is that unless asked by the media (and despite many other more important issues, they will ask), neither President Biden nor Jen Psaki, his Press Secretary, will ever mention this.
Happily, neither President Biden or the Press Secretary, will not yell at media making claims about audience size like a spoiled child.
Freshing to see.
We’ll never know, but I’m betting Mayor Pete’s hearing today gave CSPAN a bump :)
A lot smaller crowd in person – pathetic.
Due to the pandemic. Limiting crowd size is called “being responsible.”
Swing and a miss, buddy. Nice try though.
Poor Trumpers… still equating ratings with d*** size. Ya gotta feel for them.
Ha! Well, yeah, considering spectators weren’t allowed and the platform was socially distanced…but OK. You got that one. Wow.
People watch inaugurations much like they watch NASCAR. They are there to see the potential spectaculars rather than the race. In this instance, they only wanted to see if some idiot(s) would stage some sort of inane/insane attack on the incoming executive.
And remember, DC was, for all intents and purposes, difficult to navigate as a pedestrian. People who would have attended had little choice but to watch it on TV.
Plus the fact they weren’t letting people in.
4% more isn’t a lot considering how fraught the election was. I would have thought more people would tune in, considering lots of people are at home now during the day. Maybe they’re getting tired of politics
Although there were 70million votes for a conservative the mainstream media believes and says they need to be reprogrammed–none have said this is wrong. The mainstream media does not respect conservative points of view. Very sad in a two party country that the mainstream media sees only a one party country.
No, mainstream media has said that those who need ‘reprogramming’ are the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol on 1/6. And what’s more, it’s difficult to ‘respect’ a party with so many in charge who have little regard for the Constitution of the United States: ie, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Mo Brooks, et al.
Why not have the headline be, “Biden’s inauguration was a success with the public!”? That is what is wrong with this country. Stop comparing and writing about differences of our leaders and/or the people of this great country. Move on and grow up, Biden and Trump supporters. This should not even be a story. Plus this proves the media only wants to stir up issues (I guess that is what brings in the money). We have COVID protocols still in place (that some people want to follow, if they care about others), so naturally the TV rating would be higher for Biden’s audience than for Trump. A great number of Trump’s audience was in person, so naturally his TV would be lower. Media – stop reporting news that divides this nation!
I’m good, thanks.
Yeah as long as either side get their way, all is good. Continue to be part of the problem. That will sure move this country forward!
I will say, you must be good at your job, because you were able to keep my attention throughtout the article and I even commented (which I have never done before, by the way)! Job well done! I understand freedom of press, but I still think the problem with this country is the media.
Wow…a whole 4 percent when everyone is stuck at home and it’s covered on every channel. Way to talk it up, TVLine (obligatory Anderson Cooper eyeroll). Sounds like a lot of people actually skipped the coronation of this fake administration. Let’s see Biden hold a rally in a year, and we can report how pathetic his numbers are. Oh wait…the media will suppress, distort and ignore it, like everything else that may favor President Trump. 2024 can’t get here fast enough.
Joe Biden doesn’t have the need for ego-stroking rallies; he’s too busy actually doing his job.
Betting circles say Biden will only be there until April, not a year.
Biden’s Inauguration was a circus. If more viewers showed up to watch (and that’s a Big IF) it’s because most people enjoy a circus. The media’s biased coverage is painfully embarrassing. The people have lost total faith in mainstream media – that is no lie, despite what Snopes and fact-checkers will say. Their ratings are at a historical low. Look at rallies and compare Trump’s crowds to Biden’s. Enough said.