On Inauguration Day, I watched part of it on MSNBC and most of it online, on the NBC YouTube live stream, which worked really well as I was writing and editing at the same time. I imagine many people were doing the same – watching on a combination of TV and live streams. And yet… President Biden’s inauguration still scored better TV ratings than Donald Trump’s “American Carnage” Struggle Inaugural in 2017. Hahahahahaha.
President Biden’s inaugural address on Wednesday attracted about a million and a half more viewers than tuned in for Donald J. Trump’s inaugural speech four years ago, according to preliminary data from Nielsen. Nearly 40 million people watched Mr. Biden’s address on the major cable news stations and the three big broadcast networks. In 2017, 38.3 million viewers watched his predecessor’s first speech as president, the Nielsen data shows.
CNN was the ratings leader, drawing roughly 10 million viewers from roughly 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., when Mr. Biden took center stage. Only 2.7 million watched Mr. Biden’s address on Fox News, the lowest of the major networks and a sharp reversal from four years ago, when nearly 12 million viewers tuned in to Mr. Trump’s preferred cable news network.
Although significantly pared down because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony had more star power than in 2017. Lady Gaga sang the national anthem, and Jennifer Lopez performed “This Land Is Your Land” shortly before Mr. Biden was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. Jackie Evancho, a former contestant on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” sang the national anthem at Mr. Trump’s inauguration four years ago.
The numbers held steady for Mr. Biden’s festivities throughout Wednesday. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., an average combined audience of 29.4 million viewers were watching the six networks on Wednesday, versus the 27 million who watched four years ago. In the five-hour block, CNN had the biggest audience (7.7 million viewers) among the major broadcast and cable networks, and Fox News had the smallest (2.1 million).
Does this really matter? Of course not. We only care because Donald Trump and his fascist minions were obsessed with always being Bigly, the most-watched, the “strongest,” the biggest spectacle. And it turns out, more people wanted to see a humble, nice old guy from Delaware make a speech about how we should be decent to one another. Plus, Lady Gaga. I’m sure people tuned in to see Gaga, J.Lo and that other rock star, Kamala Harris. Anyway, I’m sure the viewership was even bigger once they take into account live streams, so there. F–k you Donald Trump.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I am not American and I admit I tuned in because I thought there was a strong chance of drama being caused by the fascist nutjobs… thankfully there wasn’t
LMAO.😂😂😂 Poetic justice. Hope his Diet Coke corroded arteries are exploding knowing Biden bested him in the only thing that matters most to him…tv ratings.
@edna, there was an article on Reddit yesterday about the red button on his desk that, when pressed, would alert the butler to bring him another Diet Coke. I’m not kidding. He literally had a Diet Coke button on his desk on a little brown box next to his phone.
@edna, Nevermind. There’s a whole article on it further down the Celebitchy feed. I should have scrolled all the way down before commenting here. Duh.
Let’s stop giving our attention to the loser. I fully understand that he-who-should-be-jailed and Q-who-should-be-committed are dangerous. But they get so much power from attention. They generate news stories and clicks. It’s a horrible cycle that ended very badly the last time. Please, I’m begging you. The loser has left the building. Let’s get him out of the basement apartment of our collective minds.
Mmmmmm, :::::licks fingers:::: delicious.
I’d like to be a better person, but knowing this makes me happy because I know that bloated orange toad man is squatting somewhere with a cheeseburger and his 6th Diet Coke of the day fuming about this and his inability to get on Twitter and whine about it.
It’s his sixth cheeseburger, too.
tuned in to see him walk out… muted and waited for those listed above
Once again, Biden wins the popular vote 🙂
I bet it was even bigger than that too. Lots of people have cut the cable cord and watch online instead. I watched the main ceremony on my TV, and then switched to streaming on my ipad after that so I could get some stuff done but still listen.
Exactly, I’d be so curious to see the streaming numbers – I streamed all day on PBS and CNN.
Who watches TV anymore? The streams are what matters!
I rarely watch broadcast tv but I turned in that morning because I wanted to see history being made and I wasn’t disappointed. It was wonderful to see normalcy and adults at the wheel again. It was nice to see a loving first and second family. Joe’s speech was one of hope, not petty plans of some megalomaniac. I cried because now there was light at the end of the tunnel.
As for cheeto, he can wallow in his Florida swamp.
I saw a picture today Iran posted – it’s a fake trump golfing, but the message was they are going to retaliate for the killing of Soleimani. No wonder he ordered 6 months of Secret Service protection for his family.
He really screwed up when he killed their Major Domo.
Biden should resend that order, only former potus get that protection not the rest of his grifter family. Besides Ivanka has eight bathrooms, she can hire some security guys to occupy a ninth one outside in the driveway.
lmao! Perfect
My mother in law posted an article on Facebook titled “trump’s final speech numbers dwarf Biden’s inaugural.” She used it to claim it’s evidence of voter fraud because if Biden’s viewership was smaller it means fewer would have voted for him. First of all that’s not true. Second of all, all it took was opening the 5 minute story and the first words are that its title is misleading. It was just from people who watched on 2 YouTube news channels for goodness sake. It even says before the end of the paragraph that overall more watched Biden than Trump and that more watched Biden on Wednesday than Trump in 2017. She had 8 likes from people who clearly don’t want to read the articles either. Idiots
If they had done a better job of controlling the pandemic fewer people would still be working from home and able to watch on tv.
We don’t pay for cable lol. Who still does that?
and Garth who is getting nasty messages now. Anyhow it feels like the 4 years went by fast at times but other times this moment seemed so far away. I not big on politic stories but trump was so insane and dangerous and demanded attention. When. he stopped for photos on the tarmac at Mar Lago Melania had no time for even a half second, just RBF race walking to her bedroom, not a wave goodbye.
I must confess to you, the last five years (includes time leading up to election), have been in slow motion for me. S.L.O.W. Riddled with angst, depression, anger, hate, hopelessness, fear, panic, anxiety, sadness, hurt, sorrow, numbness, foggy, shock, confusion, dismay, bewilderment….and all the negative emotions one could conjure. I honestly never thought it would end and believe me, the effects are lingering lol. It’s gonna take some time.
We all have PTSD. And we are going to be better, but there is a lot to process through. Yertle McConnell is already up to his stupid tricks.
But the inauguration was a splendid break, I watched every minute which I have never done before!
I had it on all day. It was history in the making and wanted to catch highlights. Plus, who knows what may have gone down. I did the same on 01/06 when they counted the votes and well, we all know what happened there.
The inauguration was a balm for a badly damaged populace.
Well said.
Even though I’m Canadian, I felt the world become a lighter, brighter place in the past few days. I don’t turn on the news with dread now. Each day brings more good work by Biden/Harris and their team and more revelations of the shambles the ex-president (I can’t even say his name now) inflicted not just on the US but on the world.