Fox News Is Most-Watched for Trump’s First State of the Union

By Chris Ariens 

Fox News Channel was the most-watched TV network for President Trump’s first State of the Union address in both total viewers and the A25-54 demo.

41.11 million watched on the big 7 cable and broadcast networks. That’s down slightly from last year when 42.8 million watched on those same 7 networks for Trump’s Address to Congress.

When other TV networks were added in, that speech on Feb. 28, 2017 was watched by 47.7 million TV viewers. Nielsen pegs this year’s total viewer number at 45.6 million across 12 TV networks.

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11.71 million watched on Fox News making it the-most watched State of the Union ever on a cable news channel. NBC was the most-watched broadcast network with 7.06 million.

  • 9:15-10:15 p.m. ET | Total Viewers / A25-54 demo

FNC: 11,705,000 / 3,334,000
NBC: 7,055,000 / 2,590,000
CBS: 6,990,000 / 2,100,000
ABC: 5,400,000 / 2,074,000
FOX: 3,600,000 / 1,500,000
CNN: 3,111,000 / 1,321,000
MSNBC: 2,674,000 / 659,000
FBN: 572,000 / 102,000

Fox News was also most-watched during cable news prime time as the network averaged 8.8 million viewers between 8-11 p.m. ET.

  • 8-11 p.m. ET | Total Viewers / A25-54 demo

FNC: 8,763,000 / 2,401,000
CNN: 2,543,000 / 1,058,000
MSNBC: 2,528,000 / 614,000

48 million watched Pres. Obama’s first State of the Union address on Jan. 27, 2010. Obama’s first Address to Congress, on Feb. 24, 2009, averaged 52.4 million viewers.

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