Donald Trump's second inauguration ceremony garnered lower television ratings than previous presidential inaugurations, including his own first inauguration and those of Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Initial data from Nielsen estimates an average of 26.05 million viewers across six major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC) between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern time.
This is a significant drop compared to the 39.87 million viewers who watched Biden's inauguration on the same six networks in 2021, and the 38.35 million who tuned in for Trump's first inauguration in 2017. While the exact timeframes differ slightly between the events, the decrease in viewership remains substantial. When expanding the analysis to 15 major networks, Trump's second inauguration peaked at 34.4 million viewers, averaging 24.59 million between 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. For comparison, his first inauguration averaged 30.64 million across 12 networks, and Biden's inauguration reached 33.76 million across 17 networks.
Historically, most presidents experience a decline in viewership for their second inaugurations, with Richard Nixon being a notable exception. However, the comparison might not be entirely accurate in Trump's case, given his non-consecutive terms and the significant interest from his supporters. The change of venue to an indoor setting due to weather conditions could also have affected the ratings.
Fox News significantly outperformed other networks, averaging 10.3 million viewers between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., with a peak of 10.59 million. This places it second only to Trump's first inauguration in terms of the network's most-watched inauguration coverage. Among other networks, ABC averaged 4.7 million viewers, NBC 4.4 million, and CBS 4.1 million. CNN averaged 1.7 million viewers, exceeding MSNBC's 848,000 viewers.