Highest total viewer delivery for NBC News SOTU Coverage since 2012

Second Consecutive Across-the-Board Win for Broadcast Net SOTU coverage 

FEBRUARY 6, 2019 – NBC News was the #1 most-watched broadcast network in all key demos for coverage of President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union and post-speech analysis. According to Nielsen Media Research data, the network averaged 7.142 million viewers, outperforming ABC by +1.237 million (+21%) and CBS by +463,000 (+7%). 

This was NBC News’ highest total viewer delivery for a State of the Union since 2012, and the second consecutive across-the-board win among broadcast nets for State of the Union coverage.

Among A25-54 viewers, NBC News averaged 2.633 million viewers, its biggest demo delivery for a State of the Union since 2013, leading ABC by +858,000 (+48%) and CBS by +708,000 (+37%). In A18-49, NBC News averaged 2.030 million, topping ABC by +633,000 (+45%) and CBS by +522,000 (+35%).

Compared to the 2018 State of the Union, NBC News was up +1% in total viewers and +2% in the demo.

During the post-speech analysis (10:30 p.m. to 10:37 p.m.), NBC News continued its dominance, averaging 6.451 million total viewers and leading ABC by +957,000 (+17%) and CBS by +607,000 (+10%).  Among A25-54 viewers, NBC News averaged 2.442 million viewers, topping ABC by +759,000 (+45%) and CBS by +729,000 (+43%).  In A18-49, NBC News averaged 1.857 million viewers, finishing ahead of ABC by +523,000 (+39%) and CBS by +524,000 (+39%).

NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt and TODAY co-host and NBC News chief legal analyst Savannah Guthrie joined by Meet the Press moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd NBC News and chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell led the broadcast’s coverage from 30 Rock in New York City.

NBC News chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson and NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt also contributed to the network’s coverage, as did NBC News correspondent Ron Mott, who spoke to formerly furloughed workers in Kansas City, MO.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also spoke to NBC News following the speech and offered this reaction to the president’s comments about “partisan investigations:” “Well, I thought it was, frankly, kind of bizarre. I don’t think that investigations into federal misconduct have anything to do with our economy… In any administration, no matter what party the president is from, if such dysfunction happened, congress would have a requirement to really investigate those things and without doing so, we’d be abdicating our responsibility.” 

NBC News Digital’s State of the Union coverage included more than 200 published videos, articles and social posts about the night. In addition, the NBC News Digital team produced more than 30 real-time fact checks during the State of the Union and the Democratic response. You can re-watch the digital pre-show with Ali Velshi and the full State of the Union, Democratic response and network coverage on NBCNews.com, Facebook or YouTube.  

FEBRUARY 5, 2019:

9 p.m. ET – 10:30 p.m. ET

Total Viewers	A25-54 Rating	A25-54 Viewers	A18-49 Rating	A18-49 Viewers
NBC	7.142	2.18	2.633	1.58	2.030
CBS	6.679	1.60	1.924	1.17	1.508
ABC	5.905	1.47	1.775	1.08	1.396

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For more information contact:

TJ Ducklo
NBC News
o: (212) 664-1913
c: (646) 712-3597
e: tj.ducklo@nbcuni.com

NBC NEWS

More Americans watch NBC News than any news organization in the world. Its leading and award-winning television news broadcasts include TODAY, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, Dateline NBC, and TODAY with Kathie Lee and Hoda, as well as primetime specials and breaking news reports. For the 2017-2018 season, all four NBC News marquee broadcasts were #1 in the key news demo for the third year in a row.  The rapidly-growing NBC News Digital Group, along with the SiriusXM TODAY Show Radio channel, provides continuous content to consumers wherever they are, whenever they want it. NBC News also operates Peacock Productions, an award-winning in-house production company, and the NBC NewsChannel affiliate news service.

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