More than 52 million viewers tuned in for President Barack Obama’s address to Congress Tuesday night, Nielsen Media Research said.
Drawing 52.37 million, the speech pulled in more viewers than last year’s by nearly 15 million people.
Although technically it was President Obama’s first State of the Union address, it’s not being called that because he already has addressed the Congress.
Compared to President George W. Bush’s first State of the Union address, President Obama’s address to Congress drew 12.6 million more viewers, according to Nielsen.
Tuesday’s speech is one of the most-viewed State of the Union telecasts in the past decade, surpassed only by 2003’s pre-Iraq War invasion speech and 1998’s President Clinton’s pre-impeachment address.
Nielsen tracked the address on 10 networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.