New-CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker saw his network win the day in ratings on day one, according to Fast Nationals data from Nielsen. Of course, it wasn’t exactly a typical day.
On Inauguration Day Monday, CNN led the way on cable news in both total and demo viewers, in primetime, total day and during the part people really tune in to see: the President’s speech.
That said, the “big three” cable news channels were down substantially in the ratings from the 2009 inauguration. Whereas approximately 17 million people watched Obama’s address on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News in 2009, only around 7 million watched on those three channels in 2013.
Update: Preliminary broadcast numbers are in too. They are after the jump.
The preliminary cable news numbers (we will post finals when we get them):
From 11:45AM-12:15PM, when President Obama took the oath of office and gave his address
CNN: 3.136m total viewers, 1.107m adults 25-54
MSNBC: 2.273m total viewers, 706k adults 25-54
FNC: 1.316m total viewers, 294k adults 25-54
Primetime:
CNN: 3.573m total viewers, 1.266 adults 25-54
FNC: 1.666m total viewers, 254k adults 25-54
MSNBC: 1.365m total viewers, 456k adults 25-54
Total day:
CNN: 1.923m total viewers, 657k adults 25-54
FNC: 1.104m total viewers, 227k adults 25-54
MSNBC: 1.095m total viewers, 354k adults 25-54
For comparison, here are the numbers for President Obama’s oath of office and speech from 2009 (12-12:30 PM):
CNN: 8,496,504 total viewers, 3,459,024 A25-54
FNC: 5,487,901 total viewers, 1,721,854 A25-54
MSNBC: 3,075,589 total viewers, 1,112,969 A25-54
Preliminary broadcast numbers from 10AM-4:30PM:
NBC: 5.08 million total viewers, 1.4 rating A25-54
ABC: 4.57 million total viewers, 1.1 rating A25-54.
CBS: 3.67 million total viewers, 1.0 rating A25-54. (from 9:30AM-4:35 PM)