Posted on 01/21/2009 4:19:11 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
NEW YORK The inauguration of President Barack Obama pulled a combined 29.2 household rating in the top 56 local TV markets, according to Nielsen.
Obama's TV rating (which represents about 70 percent of all TV households) was the fourth most-watched inauguration, trailing Ronald Reagan (37.4 on Jan. 20, 1981), Richard Nixon (33.5 on Jan. 20, 1969) and Jimmy Carter (31.5 on Jan. 20, 1977). However, the TV ratings do not take into account the millions that may have watched on Web sites.
The estimate reflects viewing of 14 broadcast and cable networks between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., and CNBC and ESPN from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Among the 56 markets where Nielsen measures TV audiences using electronic meters, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., had the largest inaugural TV audience with a 51.2 rating, followed by Washington, D.C. (47.7), Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va. (46.7), Baltimore (44.3) and Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C. (42.3).
Markets with the smallest TV audiences for the inaugural festivities included Seattle-Tacoma with and a 18.8 TV household rating, Portland, Ore. (20.2), San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (20.2), Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif. (21.1) and Denver (21.3).
Had to be, they were forcing kids to watch it in schools and it was on like 25 different tv channels.
Only #4? Well, we are in the TV/Internet era, and I doubt they have ratings for the Net yet.
...note how they just threw that in after Ronald Reagan, which by the way wasn't around in 1981...so in fact the Gip probably would have drawn even more....thats OK, the libs will make sure any numbers that reflect popularity slant a certain way.
I think they are trying, I remember a while back I got some email asking if I wanted to be part of the internet version of nielsen ratings. I didn’t want my internet usage tracked though. I do online banking.
plus it could have been a scam!
Obama beat by NIXON. LOL
At least they were honest about the web being a non-factor but the ad was making excuses with the sub-title alone. This is an example of why the WGA strike was absurd because no one can meter the viewers on the web, and calculate a fair profit.
About 7.7 million people watched the inauguration on Tuesday online at the same time, according to Akamai Technologies Inc.http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/21/inauguration.online.video/
The number on websites was huge. It drove our network to its knees
Obama trailed Carter. Always figured he was a black Jimmy Carter but didn’t think Carter would out do him in the ratings.
That's true, they failed to count the people drooling at a TV channel that was just snow at the time.
And we didn’t even get robocalls for reagan.
Frankly, you couldn’t avoid Obama. Not to count the forced watching in the schools. Even MTV carried it. We had to watch a recorded movie to avoid it.
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