Obama’s joint address to Congress draws 32 million viewers; MSNBC beats CNN

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President Obama’s make-or-break congressional address Wednesday night drew nearly 32 million viewers, 7 million more than tuned in for his July 22 news conference, the last time the president made his pitch for healthcare reform in prime time. But the audience was 39% smaller than that for Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24, which attracted 52.4 million viewers.

Most people watched Obama’s speech on NBC, which averaged 8.16 million viewers for the hour, while ABC had 7.4 million and CBS had 5.63 million. Fox was the only major broadcast network that didn’t air the address, choosing instead to proceed with the season premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance,” the third time this year the network has ignored a presidential appearance in prime time. The network averaged 6.5 million viewers for the hour and won the key 18- to 49-year-old advertising demographic.

Obama himself remarked on Fox’s slight today, according to Politico, but noted forgivingly that “So You Think You Can Dance” is “a show Michelle likes, by the way.”

Among the cable networks, Fox News was the big winner, averaging 4.3 million viewers during the 5 p.m. PDT hour, when Obama spoke, while CNN had 2.5 million and MSNBC had 2.3 million.

[Updated at 2:43 p.m.: According to new figures just released by Nielsen Media Research, a total of 32.1 million viewers tuned in for Obama’s address. (Galavision was not included in the earlier data.)

Meanwhile, MSNBC scored a first Wednesday night, beating CNN in total viewers during a presidential address night. During prime time on the East Coast, MSNBC averaged 2.24 million viewers to CNN’s 2.04 million. Fox News averaged 4.45 million during those three hours.]

-- Matea Gold