Across the four major broadcast networks, Trumps speech on Tuesday drew 15.9 million viewers according to early estimates, a 21% fall from last year. CBS scored the largest audience for the SOTU with 4.6 million viewers, swiftly followed by NBC with 4.4 million. ABC and Fox were close together in third and fourth, with the former garnering 3.6 million viewers and the latter 3.4 million.
The cable news and other network numbers will be added as they come in later in the day, but so far it doesn’t bode well for this SOTU speech compared compared to previous years.
This third SOTU from the 45th president of the United States of America is currently down 26% in Big-4 broadcast viewers from his second. According to early Nielsen returns, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox drew a combined. 16 million viewers for the 2020 address That tally is preliminary, however, and should be considered subject to (upward) adjustment.
The comparable initial tally last year was 21.6 million across those four networks.