Bwahahaha! "Only" 40.4 Million Households watched the President's Press Conference!

[FrenchieCat]

But Lord knows, the media is trying soooo very hard, including places like the Huffington Post (I'm thinking Ariana will sell out to the highest bidder when the time comes).

But just read that first piece- Good news dressed up as bad, for whatever the reason! :shrug:

They cannot tell how many folks are "viewing" a television. They make it sound like every single person watch a set, was watching alone. Sure. This sounds more like 60 to 80 million "viewers" watched to me!

Obama's viewership declines

The news special drew 40.4 million viewers -- down 18% from from his Feb. 9 press conference, and down 23% from his Feb. 24 address to Congress. The numbers are the combined viewership from 11 cable and broadcast networks that carried the event.

On the plus side, some broadcasters who were grumpy about the president's primetime interruption nonetheless enjoyed a silver lining. With Obama clearing the night of the usual victor, Fox's "American Idol" (which will air a performance show tonight and its results show on Thursday), several of the singing competition's rivals enjoyed heavy ratings gains over last week.

ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" results show was up a huge 39% (16.1 million viewers, 3.9 adults 18-49 rating and 10 share). NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (9.8 million, 4.1/11) hit an eight-week high. CBS' "NCIS" (17.8 million, 4.0/10) was very strong also. At 10 p.m., ABC's "Primetime" (8.0 million, 2.6/7) was up, while CBS' "The Mentalist" (17.6 million, 3.9/10) climbed sharply.

Obama's press conference providing some of these shows with a sturdy lead-in may have helped too. Typically "The Biggest Loser" and "NCIS" have to self-start at 8 p.m., while last week ABC had a low-rated recap episode to warm up the 9 p.m. "Dancing" audience.

As for the protest vote, the CW's "Reaper" (2.7 million, 1.1/3) at 8 p.m. was the only broadcast show to air against Obama's press conference and climbed 11% to hit a season high. :rofl:

Despite the president's viewership softening last night, Obama still manages to draw large audiences to any program he visits.
http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/obam-press-conference-ratings.html


Here's one reporting without the snark!

During Obama’s hour-long news conference NBC earned the highest rating with a 2.2/7. CBS and ABC tied for second at 2.0/6. CBS was the most-watched network for the hour at 9.9 million viewers. Fox was fourth at 1.7/5. The CW's Reaper earned a 1.0/3.

The press conference was carried on the four major networks as well as Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and mun2. The sum average audience across all 11 networks totaled 40.3 million viewers with a combined household rating of 25.9.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/190712-Ratings_40_3_Million_Viewers_Watched_Obama_Press_Conference.php?rssid=20100

Yeah...Let's have 40 million people call their congresscritters, and see what that would looks like.

[tuvor]

1. And how many watched it online?

Right there is at least a few dozen more to add to the total.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Certainly. Nor does it count radio.

Point is pulling that large of an audience on a March Madness Tuesday, for something as dry as a press conference is quite good.

Add that to the other shows he has appeared on, and folks are getting the message.

This is like 21st Century fireside Chat. With all of the specialized media, he's talking to all of us, and we are listening.

[uponit7771]

2. WOW, I'm starting to like Obama more & more but didn't think he was 40mil viewers on Tuesday....

...popular.

It's a good thing, he wants people to pay attention and they are...the health care\insurance issue is major..we spend 2-3 trillion dollars a year on healthcare alone 20-30 trillion a decade.

GoBAMA!!

[windbreeze]

15. people are paying attention, because he is giving them

someone to pay attention too...wb

[uponit7771]

4. I wonder what Bush's numbers were? 40 mil for press conference is pretty good IMHO

[FrenchieCat]

5. Bush gave so few, a lot of people would tune in like it was a Freak show.....

Which I'm sure it was.

I never watched.

Too busy throwing up!

[windbreeze]

16. probably a third of that....1/2 of whom then turned the channel

after the first 5 minutes due to boredom (and nausea)...wb

[progdonkey]

6. they're comparing it to his first press conference and his address to Congress?

Of COURSE this press conference would be lower than those--neither of those were "typical." One had the novelty of being his very first one, so of course a lot of people would be watching; the other was basically his SOTU Address--again, hardly a typical press conference.

Morans.

[RoyGBiv]

7. Consider the source ...

That story isn't about politics. It's about ratings. In the broadcast game, ratings numbers and the money that goes with them are all that matters.

Given the broadcast industry's irritation with the prime time speech, nothing in that should be surprising.

[FrenchieCat]

8. Except that he actually helps them in their viewership.

But yeah...they just don't like being told what to broadcast I guess....

and with Bush giving 2 news conferences in as many years, they didn't have to deal with this before.

IT appears that they need to get used to it!

[RoyGBiv]

9. Well, yeah ...

That's what the story was about.

One could quibble with the focus of the lead-in and headline, but it's still pertinent information.

It's "shop talk" so to speak We do this kind of thing at work all the time when we're budgeting for seating space and coordination with other events when we have special events. It's not a reflection of our individual biases or the biases of executive officers.

I just don't think this is a very good example of the media trying to put a pig on lipstick, if I may twist a phrase. We've got CNN, Fox, et al doing double duty on that already.

[Undercurrent]

10. .

:rofl:

This is so funny. With all their bitching, the networks actually improved their viewership for the shows following the presser. Maybe they won't complain so much next time.

[LynnTheDem]

11. This pretty much says it all about the USA.

Where fake "reality" shows are the most important thing in the nation.


This nation is far beyond "dumbing down".

[asphalt.jungle]

12. this is our future

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

[fugop]

13. "Coming up next ..."

"... an all new 'Ow! My Balls!' "

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. Yikes! Thanks for the belly laugh! n/t