Just 20 million Americans watched Biden's State of the Union

Only around 23 million viewers tuned in to hear President Biden give his State of the Union, a once-yearly address to and the nation, delivered with much fanfare. 

drew the largest share of viewers – 4.57 million – according to Neilsen’s Fast Ratings, which could tick up as final data is compiled. ABC came in second with 4.3 million, MSNBC with 3.7 million,  CBS with 3.5 million, with 2.3 million and Fox Broadcasting with 1.6 million. 

Among the coveted 25-54 age demographic most valued by advertisers, ABC finished first with around 1.06 million viewers,  trailed by NBC (978,000 viewers), Fox News Channel (793,000 viewers), CBS (675,000 viewers), CNN (617,000 viewers), MSNBC (479,000 viewers) and Fox Broadcasting (482,000 viewers).

Early ratings show a major decline in viewership this year even as there were a number of made-for-TV GOP outbursts throughout the speech – last year Biden’s address drew 38 million. 

When final ratings are released the <a href="http://arabiasoverkill.com/slo strip waiting for the famous fountain display in front of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino.

‘It’s just too dry. It’s not engaging.’

This year he is on vacation with all the distractions of Las Vegas around him. But even at home in Chicago the 42-year-old business analyst usually catches up with it the day after, when it has been analyzed and packaged into digestible highlights.

‘When Trump was in office it was more unpredictable,’ he added. ‘Even then I didn’t need to watch it live.’

Maybe it is unfair to ask people on the multicolored Las Vegas strip, with its mini Eiffel Tower, pirate ships and volcano displays (on the hour from 7pm to 11pm in front of the Mirage) whether they can tear themselves away from the illuminations to spend more than an hour to watch an old man in a navy suit deliver a speech from a podium.

But if Las Vegas represents one end of the nation’s entertainment spectrum, and Washington D.C., with its political nerds who view the State of the Union as their Oscars, Super Bowl and royal wedding rolled into one, the numbers suggest much of America is moving away from big political set pieces.

Bill Clinton’s 1993 address drew in almost 67 million viewers, according to data collected by Statista.

Numbers have been on a downward trend ever since, with occasional flips for 9/11 and Trump.

Last year, Biden attracted 38.2 million viewers. That was respectable compared with the 26.9 million he managed in 2021 (technically a speech to a joint session of Congress.)  

That’s still a decent audience and the White House has made clear it sees it as a key way to get its message out, without going through the filter of newspapers, or websites, or news bulletins, or memes, or tweets. 

‘I think the State of the Union, he’ll have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people, not just Congress, to talk about what we have done … what he has done the last two years and how he sees the future of this country,’ is how Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre put it on Monday.

He will at least be talking directly to Leo Carter, a retired law enforcement officer from Tennessee.

‘I’m of these take me across the street guys,’ he said, a cigar in one hand and a whiskey drink in the other as he enjoyed the last of the aftenoon sun on the sidewalk of the Vegas strip. ‘Don’t take me around the block to get there.’

The State of the Union is a chance to get it straight from the president’s mouth, no fuss, no spin. 

But that’s turn off for Sheila, a visitor  

‘I’d rather watch anything else,’ said a visitor to Las Vegas from Ohio. ‘Particularly this president.’

There is a quiet but growing train of thought that suggests it is time for a reboot. It was only as recently as Jimmy Carter’s presidency that the State of the Union was sometimes delivered simply in the form of a letter. 

Its format is not set in stone, as Josh Tyrangiel, a creator of ‘Vice News Tonight’ on HBO, wrote in the  last week.

‘The State of the Union is the last great regular communication opportunity in American politics, but its power shrivels every year because the mode of presentation is obsolete,’ he wrote.

‘Where else in modern life does someone try to rally people around his or her ideas with a constantly interrupted, visually desolate, 60-minute rant?’ 

Why not intersperse Biden’s words with video clips of the lives the president was talking about? Or learn from the tightly choreographed Apple product launches?

Why does data have to be numbers from the president’s mouth, when the technology exists to generate visual interpretations of the numbers, beamed directly into viewers’ homes?

‘Look at how effective a similar strategy was for the Jan. 6 committee,’ he said. 

‘It didn’t just incorporate video, but also changed the structure of congressional hearings from a buffet of scenery-chewing grandstanders into a meticulous storytelling machine.’

Whether that would make a difference is a different matter.

‘You’re telling me they would sex up Joe Biden,’ asked Chad Joseph, who was visiting Last Vegas from Minnesota. He paused briefly before laughing and laughing and laughing.