Editor’s note: This is a corrected story. The Associated Press erroneously reported the estimated number of viewers. The Nielsen company’s public report about the number of viewers did not include people who watched on CBS, because the network’s contract with Nielsen expired at the end of last year and hasn’t been renewed.
An estimated 43.3 million people saw President President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders speak to the nation on border security and the partial government shutdown.
That’s about two million fewer viewers than Trump had for his 2018 State of the Union address. The Nielsen company said Wednesday that a similar presidential address, when Barack Obama spoke in 2014 about fighting the Islamic state, was seen by 34 million people.
There was some internal debate at networks about whether to grant Trump the TV time for Tuesday’s speech, but 11 separate networks aired it.
READ MORE: Donald Trump’s case for the border wall had a number of questionable claims
Fox News Channel with 8.044 million viewers and CBS with 8.043 million were in a virtual dead heat as the top destination. NBC was third with 7 million, followed by ABC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox broadcasting.
WATCH: Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer respond to Trump’s presidential address
Comments