President Obama State of Union Address Jan 24 - H 2012
Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty ImagesPresident Obama‘s third State of the Union address took center stage on Tuesday night, with the big four networks all broadcasting the event at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Final numbers will likely show adjustments, but metered markets give the coverage crown to NBC. The network averaged a 2.0 rating among adults 18-49 in the initial hour of the speech, topping Fox, which saw a significant lead from an American Idol encore — the night’s highest scoring program.
The repeat of Sunday’s San Diego auditions did drive Fox to an overall win. The network grabbed a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 for the night, with 7.4 million viewers.
NBC, the only of the big four to air an original episode (The Biggest Loser) as a presidential lead-in, averaged a 1.9 rating for the night, with 6.5 million viewers. The Biggest Loser brought in a 2.1 in the demo, down two tenths from last week’s two-hour episode.
An encore of NCIS led into CBS’ coverage of the State of the Union, which it concluded with a repeat of the Big Bang Theory. The net averaged a 1.6 in adults 18-49 and the night’s highest audience, 8.4 million.
ABC had a block of Last Man Standing repeats before the address, followed by a Modern Family rerun, giving it a 1.4 in the demo and 5.4 million viewers.
Those less politically inclined gave the CW small boosts. 90210 and Remodeled were both new and both rose a tenth of a point for a 0.7 and 0.4 rating, respectively. The CW averaged 0.5 in adults 18-49 for the night.
More to come.
