Beginning at the moment on Sunday when HBO’s
familiar emblem appeared on Jumbotron screens along the Mall in Washington, the
inauguration of President Obama was expected to be a television hit.
Television executives spent Wednesday combing through Nielsen Media Research
ratings to see whether historic transition for the United States would draw
historic numbers of viewers. Preliminary numbers indicate that Mr. Obama didn’t
disappoint.
More than four million people watched the opening event of the inauguration
on HBO on Sunday. And almost 30 percent of households in major markets watched
the coverage across 14 channels on Tuesday, making Mr. Obama’s swearing-in the
most-watched one in a generation.
The ratings do not count viewers at work, school or other out-of-home
settings. Millions of people huddled around television sets at work, and others
watched Internet streams. Nevertheless, the in-home numbers underscored the
intense interest in Mr. Obama.
Having Bono,
Garth
Brooks and Beyoncé at an opening event didn’t hurt. “We Are One,” Sunday’s combination of concert
and historical tribute at the Lincoln Memorial, was shown exclusively by HBO at
a reported cost of $2.5 million to the premium cable channel. “We felt that it
would be a transcendent event,” said Bill Nelson, the chairman and chief
executive of HBO.
Within HBO’s 29 million subscribing households, the live broadcast and the
two prime-time replays on Sunday were watched by a total of 4.1 million viewers.
The final audience estimate is likely to be substantially larger, as HBO allowed
cable companies to simulcast the concert in all homes with cable or satellite
service. A broader rating was not available Wednesday.
Others watched a free Internet stream of the event on HBO.com, where the event is still available
for playback. The video was viewed about 700,000 times on Sunday and Monday, HBO
said.
George Stevens, an executive producer of the event, recalled that Mr. Obama
told the cast and crew that the celebration was “glorious.”
In Lincoln’s shadow, celebrities like Tom
Hanks and Jack
Black quoted former presidents, setting the tone for the two-hour event.
The Sunday broadcast sparked some controversy for what it lacked:
specifically, the invocation by V.
Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church. He was
invited to the event after Mr. Obama received criticism for asking the Rev. Rick
Warren, the megachurch pastor who opposes same-sex
marriage, to deliver the invocation at his swearing-in. But Bishop
Robinson’s remarks took place before the broadcast began, causing consternation
among some would-be viewers. The presidential inaugural committee, which set the
schedule, said it was an oversight, and HBO added the invocation to its replays
of the event.
On Monday, a children’s concert televised on the Disney Channel averaged 3.4
million viewers. The HBO and Disney events presaged high ratings on Tuesday,
when millions watched the swearing-in shortly after noon. It apparently drew
more viewers than any inauguration since Ronald
Reagan’s first in 1981, Nielsen reported Wednesday, citing preliminary
numbers.
In prime time, ABC’s exclusive broadcast of the Neighborhood Ball averaged
12.6 million viewers, peaking in the 8:30 p.m. half-hour when the Obamas visited
the ballroom. “American Idol,” the reality hit on Fox, remained solidly in first
place for the night, although it appeared dented by the inauguration coverage
and registered a 24 percent drop from last week’s audience. Fox said it expected
above-average levels of delayed viewing for the
episode.