Phil Cooke

Declining Broadcast TV Numbers for President Obama’s Speeches:

There is an interesting drop in President Obama’s numbers for his major speeches on television.  In what used to be typically one of the largest viewed TV events in the country, the decline is considerable.  Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal reports:

“Look at President Obama’s State of the Union numbers. That speech famously blankets all television and radio networks.

His first speech to a joint session of Congress, in February 2009, drew 52 million viewers. A year later the State of the Union had an understandable falloff to about 48 million. In 2011, another fall: 43 million watched. A few weeks ago his 2012 State of the Union drew just 38 million.

From 52 to 38: That’s quite a decline. And again, during a continuing crisis and in a presidential election year. As for the president’s interviews and other speeches, well, when was the last time you heard someone ask excitedly, “Did you hear what Obama said?”

Whose numbers are up? The NFL’s.”

Is it the declining broadcast TV audience?  The president’s policies?  The political climate?  The distracting economy?

What do you think?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 10:01 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.