Nielsen: Nearly 48 million watched President Trump's address to Congress



NEW YORK — President Donald Trump's first major address to the Congress and the nation was seen by an estimated 47.4 million people.

The Nielsen company said Wednesday, March 1st that President Trump's audience couldn't quite match the first such speech by predecessor Barack Obama, who drew an audience of 52.4 million in 2009.

Fox News Channel had the biggest audience for President Trump's speech Tuesday night, with 10.8 million viewers. NBC's 9.1 million ranked second, followed in order of popularity by CBS, ABC, CNN, Univision, Fox broadcasting and MSNBC. The moment that drew the most interactions on Twitter came after President Trump talked about fallen Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens with his widow looking on.

Similar initial presidential speeches reached 39.8 million for George W. Bush in 2001 and 66.9 million for Bill Clinton in 1993.