President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union averaged 24.17 million viewers across the four main broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) and three largest cable news channels (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC). That’s down by about 29 percent from 33.83 million who watched the State of the Union on those seven outlets in 2022.

The 2022 State of the Union, the first official one of Biden’s term, brought in 38.2 million viewers across 16 outlets. Final figures from every Nielsen-rated channel that carried Tuesday’s address will be available later in the day, but the total is likely to be under 30 million on-air viewers, which would make it among the least watched State of the Union addresses (or presidential addresses to Congress for incoming executives) of the past 30 years.

[This trend is promising! Maybe everyone is waking up to the uselessness and vacuousness of this tradition. That’s not so much about Biden himself, but rather the imperial trappings and the lack of substance or real news that come from it. The more this gets seen for the Beltway self-promotion it is, the faster the audience will evaporate for it. — Ed]