Nearly 37.8 million Americans watching at home viewed President Barack Obama’s oath of office and inaugural speech between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET on January 20, 2009. This is the most viewed inauguration since the record of 41.8 million viewers who watched Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inauguration.
This is the first inaugural since Nielsen began tracking time-shifted viewing, and this year’s data is based on Live + Same Day, meaning incremental viewing during the same broadcast day is included.
| President | Date | HH Rating | Households | Viewers P2+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barack Obama | January 20, 2009 -Tues | 25.5 | 28,906,061 | 37,793,008 |
| Ronald Reagan | January 20, 1981-Tue | 37.4 | 29,100,000 | 41,800,260 |
| Richard Nixon | January 20, 1969 – Mon | 33.5 | 18,870,000 | 27,007,700 |
| Jimmy Carter | January 20, 1977-Thu | 31.5 | 22,430,000 | 34,127,090 |
| Richard Nixon | January 20, 1973-Sat | 28.5 | 18,470,000 | 32,950,900 |
| Bill Clinton | January 20, 1993-Wed | 24.5 | 22,758,111 | 29,721,041 |
| Ronald Reagan | January 20, 1985-Sun | 22.3 | 18,925,556 | 25,053,886 |
| George W. Bush | January 20, 2001-Sat | 20.8 | 21,346,400 | 29,008,200 |
| George H.W. Bush | January 20, 1989-Fri | 20 | 18,106,000 | 23,316,325 |
| Bill Clinton | January 20, 1997-Mon | 17.1 | 16,515,000 | 21,583,000 |
| George W. Bush | January 20, 2005-Thu | 11.8 | 12,928,709 | 15,536,652 |
| © 2009 The Nielsen Company |
RELATED: Nielsen Online traffic data for News, Current Event, and Video Streaming on Inauguration Day.
