Trump's Joint Address To Congress Draws 36.6 Million Viewers, Hitting A Three-Year High

Lots of Americans tuned in to see what President Donald Trump has in mind for his second term in office: 36.6 million viewers watched Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday, Nielsen has announced, marking a three-year high for the annual speech. (Note: A President's first speech to Congress is not technically considered a "State of the Union" speech, but instead referred to as an Address to a Joint Session of Congress.)

Trump's speech — which saw him touting his administration's accomplishments in his first six weeks in office and praising Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency task force — topped Joe Biden's 2024 speech, which drew 32.2 million viewers, representing a 13% increase. (The last speech to top Trump's in viewership was Biden's 2022 address, with 38.2 million.)

Trump's speech, however, fell short of all four of his previous addresses, with 37.2 million tuning into his most recent speech to Congress in February 2020.

Viewership of Trump's speech peaked in the 9:45-10:00 pm ET window, with 37.9 million viewers. But the audience did skew old: More than 70% of viewers were over the age of 55, with just 2.1 million viewers aged 18-34.

A total of 15 networks aired Trump's speech, including: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Merit Street, Telemundo, Univision, PBS, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business, Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax and NewsNation.