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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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On Monday, 24.6 million viewers tuned in to watch Donald Trump being sworn into office, estimates from the data analytics company Nielsen showed, which was lower than the viewership Joe Biden's inauguration received four years earlier.
Newsweek contacted Trump's team for comment by email on Wednesday outside standard working hours.
Why It Matters
Crowd size has been a consistent topic of conversation for Trump, which Democrats have used to mock and enrage him. However, Trump moved his second inauguration indoors, citing the extreme cold in Washington, D.C., this week.
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Though the move drastically reduced the size of the attending crowd, thousands of Trump's supporters braved the freezing temperatures and gathered outside the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., to watch Trump's televised swearing-in. Many waited in long lines to ensure they had a spot in the packed venue.
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What To Know
On January 20, 2021, an estimated 33,760,000 people tuned in to see Biden become the 46th president of the United States, according to Nielsen, even as COVID-19 restrictions gave the ceremony a subdued tone.
The ceremony was aired live by 17 networks between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET.
According to Nielsen, viewership for Trump's inauguration peaked around 12:15 p.m. with 34.4 million, but the event otherwise received an average viewing audience of 24,589,000 people.
The company analyzed data from the 15 networks that aired coverage of Trump's inauguration from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The networks were ABC, CBS, NBC, Merit Street Media, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, CNNe, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.
The estimates include viewers in the U.S. who watched the live ceremony and those who watched the inauguration later on the same day.
Why Did Fewer Viewers Tune In
According to Nielsen's data, Trump's inauguration viewership was the fourth-lowest since 1997, when Bill Clinton's second swearing-in totaled an audience of 21.6 million people. In 2012, Barack Obama's second inauguration recorded a total of 20.5 million viewers, while George W. Bush's second inauguration recorded a total of 15.5 million viewers in 2005.
According to the data, a president's second inauguration typically attracts a lower viewership than his first.
Additionally, Trump has spent years fostering a climate of distrust and hostility toward mainstream media, which the MAGA movement has embraced. This might explain why fewer of his supporters would choose to watch the ceremony on channels such as CNN or MSNBC.
According to Linda Yaccarino, who has served as the CEO of X Corp. since June 2023, Trump's inauguration on X, formerly Twitter, received 4.8 billion impressions and 673 million video views. Yaccarino also said there was a 15 percent increase in posts compared to 2021.
What People Are Saying
Brian Tyler Cohen, a political commentator, wrote on X: "Trump hanging his supporters in DC out to dry in favor of an exclusive inauguration where only his inner circle and top donors can attend is the perfect metaphor for this administration and today's GOP."
Adam Kinzinger, a senior political commentator at CNN and former congressman, wrote on X: "Watching so many people having spent money to go to the inauguration, and then Trump canceling it because he's worried about the pictures and small crowds, is a perfect picture of his whole relationship with his supporters. They give and give, he takes and takes."
What Happens Next
Trump has signed a series of sweeping executive orders on Day 1 of his second term, withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, declaring an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to restrict birthright citizenship, and pardoning almost all of the January 6 rioters charged with federal crimes.
Experts said the president was trying to test his powers on the first day, with some of the executive orders being easier to pass through unchallenged than others.
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