President Trump’s inauguration last week set viewership records with an estimated 80.7 million viewers, the President announced.
The previous record is held by Ronald Reagan, who had an estimated 41.8 million television viewers for his first inauguration. Trump nearly doubled this number.
Trump’s inauguration ceremony was originally planned for the West Front of the U.S. Capitol but was moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid weather conditions. Despite the limited attendance in the Rotunda, thousands packed into the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, and attended watch parties across the country to watch the historic ceremony.
Almost every seat in the 20,000-seat arena was filled.
The Gateway Pundit reported on President Trump’s once-in-a-generation inaugural address, where he reestablished America as the home of greatness and freedom, telling his plans to fix all of the destruction caused over the last four years. It was his greatest speech ever.
According to data from Streams Charts, “Both YouTube and Twitch set new peak viewership records” during the inauguration.
The data also shows that “Thanks to the inauguration coverage, the News & Politics section on YouTube set new all-time viewership records. During the ceremony, peak viewership in the section hit 9,691,679 with 2,727 channels streaming at the peak. Both of these numbers became records for the category.”
Media ratings firm Nielson reports that viewership peaked on increasingly unpopular cable television at 34.4 million viewers. Leftist media outlets are citing figures of an estimated 26.4 million viewers from Nielson, which analyzes just 15 cable TV networks that aired coverage of the inauguration, to claim that Trump’s inauguration actually received less views than Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Those claiming that Biden’s inauguration had higher viewership than Trump’s are the same people who still want you to believe that Joe Biden was the most popular president in history and that he received 81 million votes.
However, this is a new era where millions, especially Millenials and Gen Z, have abandoned cable for streaming platforms.
Trump recorded nearly 37 million views on the live stream posted to his X account:
The 60th Presidential Inauguration Ceremony https://t.co/kTB4w2VCdI
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2025
President Trump said, “An estimated 80.7 million viewers watched the President’s Inauguration,” which may be an underestimate when you take into account other live streams on X and platforms that allow live streaming, like Rumble and Getter.
President Trump announced the News on Truth Social:
President Donald J. Trump’s Historic Inauguration Sets Viewership Record
Data from Streams Charts shows that due to coverage of President Trump’s Inauguration, the News section of YouTube set a new “All Time Viewership Record” with 9.6 million viewers.
Additionally, the Inaugural Ceremony stream on President Donald J. Trump’s X account received a stunning 36.7 million views.
In combination with TV viewership, an estimated 80.7 million viewers watched the President’s Inauguration, which beats the previous record of 42 million viewers with Ronald Reagan’s Inauguration in 1981.
