Biden speech draws 38.2 million U.S. TV viewers

An estimated 38.2 million people watched President Biden's Tuesday night State of the Union speech on U.S. television, an increase from his 2021 address to Congress, according to ratings data from Nielsen. The figure includes viewership on 16 broadcast and cable networks in English and in Spanish.

An estimated 38.2 million people watched President Biden's Tuesday night State of the Union speech on U.S. television, an increase from his 2021 address to Congress, according to ratings data from Nielsen.

The figure includes viewership on 16 broadcast and cable networks in English and in Spanish. Biden's first address to Congress in April 2021 attracted an estimated 26.9 million viewers across 16 channels.

In Tuesday's speech, the Democrat assailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and detailed his domestic agenda. Biden's audience came in below the total for former President Donald Trump's first State of the Union speech in 2018, which attracted close to 46 million people.

Television audiences for live events have fallen sharply as audiences have gravitated to on-demand streaming services.