Biden Press Conference Draws 24 Million TV Viewers

President Joe Biden‘s televised press conference Thursday evening attracted a sizable audience.

More than 24 million people watched the press event across eight broadcast and cable outlets, according to Nielsen. The press conference came at the end of a NATO summit in Washington and amid swirling speculation about the future of Biden’s re-election campaign following his poor debate performance opposite Donald Trump in late June.

Per Nielsen, 24.16 million people watched the press conference on ABC, CBS, CNN, the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC and Univision. Fox News had the largest share of that audience, drawing 5.67 million viewers from 7:30-8:30 p.m. ET. ABC was not far behind with 4.97 million viewers, and CBS (3.6 million) edged NBC (3.55 million) for third place. They were followed by MSNBC (2.52 million), CNN (2.22 million), Fox broadcast (998,000) and Univision (620,000). Audience figures do not include the networks’ digital and streaming outlets.

ABC topped the adults 25-54 demographic that news programs target most heavily, drawing 879,000 people in that age range, slightly more than Fox News (835,000). CBS (611,000) and NBC (592,000) held the same positions as they did among total viewers, while CNN (439,000) and MSNBC (319,000) switched places. The Fox broadcast network had 276,000 adults 25-54 for the press conference, and Univision drew 254,000.

As is usually the case for multi-network political news telecasts, the overwhelming majority of the audience was 55 or older. According to Nielsen, people 55 and up accounted for 19.16 million viewers of Biden’s press conference — 79 percent of the total.