Skip to content
02_Elements/Icons/ArrowLeft Back to Insight
Insights > Media

Nearly 37.8 Million Watch President Obama’s Oath And Speech On TV

1 minute read | January 2009

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.

Download the complete report.

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.

Related tags:

Continue browsing similar insights