Joe Biden’s State of the Union viewed by more than 32 million – second highest viewership of his presidency

President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address was viewed by more than 32 million people — roughly 5 million more than last year’s speech, according to ratings released by Nielsen Friday.

The president’s annual speech to a joint session of Congress drew in an estimated 32.2 million total viewers across the 14 television networks that carried the broadcast Thursday night, the Nielsen data show.​ 

Ratings were 18% higher than last year’s 27.3 million viewers, and Biden’s latest State of the Union was the second most watched of his presidency, behind his 2022 address, which was watched by 38 million.

The majority of viewers – 74% – were aged 55 and older. 

Only 5% of viewers in the coveted 18-34 age demographic watched the 81-year-old president’s speech. 

More than half of people – 56% – watched coverage of Biden’s State of the Union on broadcast networks, such as CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX. 

Forty-four percent tuned in on cable networks. 

Fox News edged out ABC for the largest share of viewers, 5.84 million to 5.24 million, respectively. 

NBC finished third, with 4.47 million viewers, followed by MSNBC’s 4.43 million, CBS’s 4.09 million, CNN’s 2.63 million and the Fox broadcast network’s 1.77 million.

The four annual addresses Biden’s delivered to Congress have averaged about 31.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s data, well short of former President Donald Trump’s average audience of 44.7 million. 

Biden’s speeches have also averaged fewer viewers than former President Barack Obama’s 38.3 million State of the Union average. 

The president’s address was criticized by Republicans for being hyper-partisan, and GOP lawmakers heckled Biden throughout his speech, during which he railed against Trump, botched the name of the 22-year-old nursing student, Laken Riley, allegedly killed by undocumented migrant and pushed for the Senate to pass a stalled border security bill that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel.