ANGELA WEISS/AFP
President Donald Trump’s inauguration had dramatically lower TV ratings than Joe Biden’s inauguration four years ago and Trump’s own first inauguration.
Trump averaged 26.1 million viewers from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on the three largest cable news channels: CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In 2021, then-President Biden had more than 10 million more viewers at 39.9 million on those same three networks; a figure that was also higher than Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, which averaged 38.4 million viewers.
On Monday, the viewership peaked before Trump took the oath of office around noon with 34.4 million viewers but across 15 networks.
Throughout the day, across 15 outlets, including NewsNation, PBS, and Fox News, which, unsurprisingly, drew the most viewers, Trump’s inauguration had an average of 24.6 million viewers, a 27% decrease from Biden’s inauguration and 20% decrease from Trump’s first inauguration, per the Hollywood Reporter.
It’s important to note that lower viewership for a president’s second-term inauguration is expected. The same happened with Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the Hollywood Reporter noted.
Originally published by Latin Times
