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March 26, 2009
Most TV shows start strong in the ratings, then decline as their novelty wears off.
Apparently that trend also holds true for the president’s primetime telecasts.
According to the national Nielsen ratings, Barack Obama’s Tuesday-night press conference lost viewers compared with his two most recent heavily covered evening events.
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.
Despite the president’s viewership softening last night, Obama still manages to draw large audiences to any program he visits. Obama went on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” last Thursday and pulled in 8.9 million homes (national ratings are not yet available). On Sunday, more than 17 million watched CBS’ “60 Minutes” featuring an extended interview with the president, making the program the fourth-most-watched show of the week.
In Tuesday’s conference, Obama said he was seeing signs of progress in his drive to lead the United States out of economic crisis as he sought to reassure recession-weary Americans he was on the right track.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Obama said.
Knocked off stride by public anger over hefty corporate bonuses and facing skepticism about his massive budget plan, the president moved to regain his political footing and refocus attention on his broader economic agenda. He made his case to the American people the same day he pressed for coordinated action among the world’s major economies, and just a day after unveiling a trillion-dollar plan to soak up toxic bank assets at the root of the global financial meltdown.
Obama took the podium after U.S. stocks slid while investors paused to reassess the government’s latest effort to clean up bank balance sheets. Initial euphoria over the plan had driven stocks sharply higher on Monday.
Obama, who has vowed to repair America’s image overseas after eight years under George W. Bush, said there were indications his policy changes were “restoring confidence” internationally in U.S. global leadership.
He also made clear he was serious about his recent overtures of a fresh start with longtime U.S. foe Iran and said the status quo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which he has promised strong U.S. engagement, was “unsustainable.”
Focusing on the economy, Obama said, “We’ve put in place a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts. It’s a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress.”
– With additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Ross Colvin, Reuters
Read at: http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/obam-press-conference-ratings.html
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