Author Topic: Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says  (Read 606 times)

Dos Equis

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Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says
« on: January 23, 2009, 10:12:37 AM »
Interesting.  With all the hype I expected him to blow everyone out of the water. 

Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says

Friday, January 23, 2009 11:00 AM

By: Rick Pedraza   
 
Although the number of viewers watching the presidential inauguration coverage of Barack Obama was impressive, they fall short of those who saw Ronald Reagan take the oath of office for his first term in 1981.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 37.8 million television viewers tuned in Tuesday to watch the swearing-in ceremony, which was the largest inaugural audience in 28 years. Reagan's first inauguration in 1981 drew a whopping 41.8 million.

Obama's viewership was, however, 27 percent higher than Bill Clinton's in 1993, and 30 percent higher than George W. Bush's in 2001. Bush’s swearing-in for his second term in 2005 was the lowest viewing audience (15.5 million) for a presidential inauguration.

Obama's figures include telecasts on 17 broadcast and cable networks, while Reagan’s swearing-in ceremony nearly three decades ago could only be seen on ABC, CBS and NBC.

NBC’s coverage of the Obama inauguration festivities beat all competitors with 11.5 million viewers, followed by ABC (11 million) and CBS (7.2 million). CNN topped the cable networks with 8.5 million viewers, followed by Fox News Channel (5.5 million), and MSNBC (3.1 million).

The ratings do not, however, include the huge online viewing audience, with CNN.com, FoxNews.com and MSNBC.com all reporting record-breaking streaming video traffic. Google reports that searches were down during the event.

Among U.S. cities, Raleigh-Durham had the largest TV audience (51 percent of the television audience), while host city Washington, D.C. came in second (48 percent). Seattle-Tacoma had the lowest television rating at 18.8 percent, and the West Coast, in general, had the lowest numbers, possibly due to the fact that the swearing-in ceremony there was televised at 9 a.m.

Overseas numbers show Germany with 11 million viewers, followed by France (7 million) and Great Britain (5.1 million).

Presidential Inauguration Ratings (from highest to lowest):

1981 – Ronald Reagan – 41.8 million

1977 – Jimmy Carter – 34.1 million

1973 – Richard Nixon – 33.0 million

1993 – Bill Clinton – 29.7 million

2001 – George W. Bush – 29.0 million

1985 – Ronald Reagan – 25.1 million

1989 – George Bush – 23.3 million

1997 – Bill Clinton – 21.6 million

2005 – George W. Bush – 15.5 million
 
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_inaugural_reagan/2009/01/23/174132.html

BM OUT

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Re: Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2009, 10:16:35 AM »
Thats obvious.Reagan was a giant,Obama is a politician.

Tre

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Re: Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2009, 11:23:05 AM »

37.8M is actually a very small number.

Does that include those who DVR'd it or who caught a re-broadcast or just those who watched as it happened? 

Even with more things happening on TV now - keep in mind that cable TV was in its infancy back in 1981 - I still would've expected our population growth since 1981 to offset the loss of viewers to 'other stuff' on TV Tuesday. 


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Re: Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2009, 12:26:14 PM »
Nielsen only rates households in the USA, ...more than likely right-wing households because they seem to be the group that doesn't care about being under constant surveillance. That said, ...Nielsen neither rates viewership internationally, ...nor does it count multitudes who think enough of Obama's ascension to the oval office to hop on a plame, train, or bus, to spend a fortune on accomodations, to stand out in the freezing cold to watch it taking place in person.
w

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Re: Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2009, 12:32:59 PM »
I would also have to add the internet stream (which is what i watched it on)

 :-\

tendonitis

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Re: Reagan Beats Obama in Inaugural Ratings, Nielsen Says
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2009, 12:43:45 PM »
Obama should have beaten Reagan by millions just on the basis of how much the population has grown in the last 28 years.

Obamamania is a complete media creation. The election turnout wasn't impressive. The inauguration viewership wasn't impressive.

The whole thing is a sad joke.