Last night, President Barack Obama gave the State of the Union address across all cable channels and broadcasts. Obama spoke of renewable energy, education, and even told a joke or two. But what did this speech mean for the ratings?
Fox News Channel was the dominant news network in cable last night during the address, which averaged 4.96 million Total Viewers for the address — beating all cable news nets in every category.
CNN was #2 in Total Viewers and among A25-54 during the address and during post analysis. MSNBC came in third in Total Viewers and among A25-54 during the address and during post analysis
2011 SOTU Address Ratings:
- FNC: 4.96M in Total Viewers / 1.634M in A25-54
- CNN: 2.984M in Total Viewers /1.2M in A25-54
- MSNBC: 2.504M in Total Viewers / 836K in A25-54
2011 Post-Speech Analysis Ratings:
- FNC: 5.444M Total Viewers / 1.756M in A25-54
- CNN: 3.01M in Total Viewers / 1.230M in A25-54
- MSNBC: 2.357M in Total Viewers / 739K in A25-54
NBC News’ coverage (from 9:00pmET-10:13pmET) saw a +6% increase (+555,000) versus the 2010 SOTU delivery of 8.73M Total Viewers. In viewers A25-54, NBC delivered a 3.0 rating, up +7% versus the 2010 SOTU. NBC’s analysis (10:13pmET-10:25pmET) was up by +9% (+669,000 in Total Viewers). ABC saw growth of +11% (+778,000 Total Viewers) compared to the 2010 SOTU.
In rating A18-49, NBC averaged a 1.9 rating, beating ABC by +27% and CBS by +58%. In rating A25-54, NBC delivered a 2.4 rating, +20% (+4 tenths) more than ABC and +33% (+6 tenths) ahead of CBS.
NBC News’ continued analysis coverage (10:36pmET-11pmET) averaged 5.445M Total Viewers, +119% (+2.958M) more than ABC’s Cougar Town but -7% (-431,000) less than CBS’ Big Bang Theory. NBC also beat ABC in rating A18-49 by +86% (+6 tenths) and rating A25-54 by +78% (+7 tenths).
2011 SOTU Address Ratings (9:00pmET-10:13ET):
- NBC: 9.285M Total Viewers
- ABC: 7.063M Total Viewers
- CBS: 6.954M Total Viewers