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Nearly 19 million television viewers watched the first full-time hearing of the select committee of the House investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a quantifiable success for the team of leading lawmakers. by Democrats who hoped their investigation would get the nation’s attention.
Rating data released Friday indicated that the audience was watched by approximately 18.8 million people on the six major U.S. broadcast and cable networks that broadcast the program live Thursday night. Preliminary data comes from Nielsen’s rating service and does not include the millions more who saw the audience on streaming apps or social media, where many testimonial clips went viral.
Major broadcasters – ABC, CBS and NBC – cleaned up their popular prime-time entertainment hours to broadcast the audience, without commercial interruption, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Eastern Time, as well as cable news channels such as CNN and MSNBC.
ABC attracted the largest audience, nearly 4.9 million total viewers, followed by MSNBC, NBC and CBS and CNN.
The only major cable news channel that did not cover the audience was Fox News, whose conservative opinion hosts deliberately tried to counter it, showing silent glances from the audience in the courtroom. while they and their guests bluntly despised the committee’s efforts. (“The most boring, the most boring, there’s absolutely nothing new, a multi-hour Democratic fundraiser disguised as a Jan. 6 hearing,” said Fox host Sean Hannity.)
Instead, Fox sent two of its news presenters to cover audience coverage on the much-less-watched Fox Business Network sister channel, which drew 223,000 viewers compared to the 3 million that Fox News watched.
Spectators who tuned in to the audience saw unreleased video footage of the carnage of the day, interviews of witnesses conducted by the committee, and audio snippets worthy of news from key actors.
Some moments in the hearing continued to make headlines and catch the eye on Friday, such as Ivanka Trump’s recorded testimony telling investigators she did not believe the election had been stolen.
The hearings – there will be several more after Thursday’s debut, though not all will be at prime time – have been compared to previous sessions of the congressional committee that have captivated audiences, such as the Watergate Committee hearings. of the 1973 Senate and Army and McCarthy hearings. of 1954.
But the media industry has changed dramatically since then. Fifty years ago, most Americans regularly watched one of the three major broadcast networks. Now, a smaller group of viewers is split between various broadcast channels, cable channels, and a myriad of digital platforms, many offering the audience a chance to see audiences on small-sized clips.
Viewers who switched from one channel to another found a surprising uniformity in the presentation of the audience, with most networks holding a camera without blinking on the committee’s proceedings, distinguished only by their election of presenters and experts to analyze the audience after its conclusion at 22:00.
Those in the television business had particularly high expectations for Thursday’s broadcast given the backstage role played by former ABC News chairman James Goldston, who helped perfect the committee’s presentation for a hearing. television.
“It simply came to our notice then. The theme line was adjusted and centered. The timeline video was hard to watch, but it wasn’t exploitative, in my view, “said Andrew Heyward, a former CBS News chief.” Overall, I felt that the production reinforced the gravity of the moment without sensationalizing it “.
Industry observers expressed some advanced skepticism about the audience, given the trends of recent decades. While 71 percent of Americans told Gallup they watched some of Watergate’s live audiences in 1973, the first televised hearing of Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial drew only about 13 million viewers. 2019, although it aired from the least-watched morning. hours. Former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s testimony in July 2019 also attracted nearly 13 million viewers, which was timid of the 19.5 million television viewers who witnessed the former FBI Director James B. Comey in 2017.
While he thought Thursday night’s audience was a compelling television show, industry analyst Brad Adgate cited both the rise in polarization and the proliferation of new video services to explain the drop in viewing highs. of the Watergate era.
The commission’s second hearing is scheduled for Monday morning at 10 a.m., giving it a lower television profile. “It will be difficult to keep up with the numbers in the future, but I anticipate a sizeable audience and a lot of buzzing on social media,” Adgate said.