The Obama Show on the Skids

Early ratings: Obama's viewership declines

Most TV shows start strong in the ratings, then decline as their novelty wears off. Apparently that trend also holds true for the president's primetime telecasts.

According to the early Nielsen ratings, Barack Obama's Tuesday night press conference showed some audience slippage compared with his two most recent live events.
The news special drew a 21.1 metered market household rating across the four major broadcasters -- down 14% from his Feb. 24 address and Feb. 12 conference (which drew a 24.5 and 24.4 in the metered markets).

The comparisons could shift later today when Nielsen releases the telecast's final national ratings (which will include the cable news networks).

Still, some broadcasters who were grumpy about the president's primetime interruption nonetheless enjoyed a silver lining. With Obama clearing the night of Fox's "American Idol," several shows airing after the press conference saw signficant ratings gains over last week.

These number could shift slightly more than usual in the nationals, but the preliminaries have ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" results show up 32% (15.7 million viewers, 3.7 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 10 share). NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (9.8 million, 4.1/11) hit an eight-week high. CBS' "NCIS" (17.5 million, 3.9/10) was very strong also. At 10 p.m., ABC's "Primetime" (8.5 million, 2.7/7) was up, while CBS' "The Mentalist" (17.5 million, 3.8/10) climbed 15%.

As for the protest vote, the CW's "Reaper" (900,000, 1.0./3) at 8 p.m. was the only broadcast ]show to air against Obama's press conference and enjoyed a slight boost this week.

In the conference, Obama said he was seeing signs of progress in his drive to lead the United States out of economic crisis as he sought to reassure recession-weary Americans he was on the right track.

"We're moving in the right direction," Obama said.

Knocked off stride by public anger over hefty corporate bonuses and facing skepticism about his massive budget plan, the president moved to regain his political footing and refocus attention on his broader economic agenda. He made his case to the American people the same day he pressed for coordinated action among the world's major economies, and just a day after unveiling a trillion-dollar plan to soak up toxic bank assets at the root of the global financial meltdown.
Obama took the podium after U.S. stocks slid while investors paused to reassess the government's latest effort to clean up bank balance sheets. Initial euphoria over the plan had driven stocks sharply higher on Monday.

Obama, who has vowed to repair America's image overseas after eight years under George W. Bush, said there were indications his policy changes were "restoring confidence" internationally in U.S. global leadership.

He also made clear he was serious about his recent overtures of a fresh start with longtime U.S. foe Iran and said the status quo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which he has promised strong U.S. engagement, was "unsustainable."

Focusing on the economy, Obama said, "We've put in place a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts. It's a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long term. And we are beginning to see signs of progress."

-- With additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Ross Colvin, Reuters