Score another victory for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. According to early Nielsen figures, TV viewership for Wednesday’s inauguration was about 4 percent higher than the event four years ago.
Nearly 40 million people watched Biden become the 46th president of the United States. From 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. ET Wednesday — the time covering Biden’s swearing in and his inaugural address — broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC and cable news channels CNN, Fox News and MSNBC drew a total of 39.87 million viewers, according to fast national ratings. That’s about 1.52 million more people than watched Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, but way lower than President Barack Obama’s first inauguration, which drew more than 50 million in 2009.
For the wider broadcast window of 11 a.m.-4 p.m. ET, Wednesday’s coverage averaged 29.45 million viewers, also up from 2017 (27.08 million).
Not surprisingly, the cable networks generally preferred by liberal viewers led the way. CNN topped all outlets for both the five-hour window (7.74 million viewers) and the half hour featuring Biden’s swearing in (9.99 million). CNN’s inauguration audience was the largest in its 40-year history, more than doubling its audience from four years ago.
MSNBC also enjoyed a substantial increase, averaging 5.33 million viewers from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and 6.89 million for Biden’s oath and speech. The conservative-leaning Fox News, meanwhile, fell sharply, from 8.77 million viewers for the five-hour window in 2017 to 2.17 million on Wednesday. It dropped from 11.77 million viewers for the oath of office four years ago to 2.74 million this year. Fox News, however, continues to hold the record for the most-watched Inauguration Day coverage in total viewers, having averaged 10,498,000 viewers in 2017.
Among the broadcast networks, ABC led the way with 5.37 million viewers from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., while CBS had 4.13 million and NBC drew 4.71 million. Spanish-language network Univision averaged 1.3 million viewers.
CNN continued to dominate in primetime, during which several outlets aired a 90-minute, music-filled “Celebrating America” special. CNN drew 6.67 million viewers during the special to finish ahead of MSNBC (4.41 million), NBC (3.86 million), ABC (3.66 million) and CBS (3.04 million). Hosted by Tom Hanks, the special featured performances by Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Jon Bon Jovi, Tim McGraw, Tyler Hubbard, and Ant Clemons.
Fox News chose not to air the special, sticking with its regular primetime lineup and averaged 3.21 million viewers over the 90 minutes.
Since Nov. 4, the day after the 2020 election, CNN has been the top cable network overall.
