Nine million fewer viewers tuned in for Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony than for Joe Biden’s in 2021. According to audience measurement company Nielsen, 24.6 million people watched the former reality TV personality take office, compared with 33.8 million who saw Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
The number of viewers was also significantly down on the 30.6 million Americans who watched coverage of Trump’s first inauguration. This time, the majority of viewers were aged 55 and over, with 17% of all US citizens in that age bracket watching, compared with 1.9% of people aged 18 to 34.
Trump’s viewing figures are the lowest since Barack Obama’s second inauguration, in 2013, which drew 20.5 million viewers. Ratings typically drop for presidents’ second swearing in, with George W Bush’s second inauguration providing the lowest TV viewing figures since 1969. However, Richard Nixon bucked the trend by increasing his television audience by 6 million – from 27 million to 33 million.
Neither of Trump’s inauguration ratings came near that of Obama’s first, which brought 38 million Americans to their television sets in 2009, and was the most-watched swearing in since 1981.
The majority of people watching Trump’s recent inauguration did so on Fox News. It had 10.67 million tuning in, followed by ABC News with 4.85 million. When Biden’s inauguration was televised, Fox News’ coverage drew the smallest of the major TV networks.
