Donald Trump’s inauguration day ceremonies attracted 30.6 million viewers on Friday, much lower than the crowd for Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009.
Nielsen measured the 12 networks that aired any live coverage of inaugural events between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET. Obama’s history-making first time out averaged 37.7 million viewers. The highest-rated inauguration remains Ronald Reagan in 1981, which brought in 41.8 million viewers.
The Trump inauguration drew 2.8 million viewers 18-34, 7.2 million 35-54, and 19.2 million 55 and over. Nielsen measured viewership on ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, Fox Business Network, Fox New Channel, Galavision, HLN, and MSNBC.
Fox News was the most watched network, averaging 8.8 million viewers from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
Trump’s inauguration ranked as the fifth highest in total viewers, behind Reagan 1982, Obama 2009, Jimmy Carter 1977 (34.1 million), and Richard Nixon 1973 (33 million). The 2013 Obama inauguration drew an audience of 20.6 million. Trump edged out Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration (29.7 million) and George W. Bush 2001 (29 million).
In household ratings–percentage of households tuning in–Trump ranks a mere ninth with a 20.1 rating.
That puts Trump behind Reagan 1981 (37.4), Nixon 1969 (33.5), Carter 1977 (31.5), Nixon 1973 (28.5), Obama 2009 (25.5), Clinton 1993 (24.5), Reagan 1985 (22.3), and George W. Bush 2001 (20.8). It puts him barely ahead of Georg H.W. Bush’s 1989 inauguration (20.0).
