Barack Obama's Inauguration, Tv Ratings | featured news

President Obama's public swearing-in ceremony and parade may have been full of pageantry, but the inauguration wasn't much of a draw on television. About 20.6 million people tuned in to watch as Obama repeated his oath for a second term at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, according to Nielsen, the TV ratings company. That's way down from the nearly 37.8 million people who watched the nation's first black president take office in 2009.

With last week's inaugural festivities depressing ratings for Fox's "American Idol," CBS managed to sneak away with a narrow ratings win for the week ending Jan. 25.

Almost 37.8 million Americans watched the full day of television coverage of President Barack Obama's inauguration  -- less than the record numbers expected.