PRESIDENT Obama’s grip on primetime is showing signs of age.
According to Nielsen, 40 million people tuned into his press conference Tuesday night. The press conference pre-empted programming on 11 TV and cable channels, including all four major networks.
But that is significantly less than the 49.5 million that tuned in to his first primetime press conference Feb. 9. (In comparison, 52 million watched his address to the joint session of Congress.)
The downturn in interest might be the result of presidential overexposure.
The president has been on a media campaign to drum up popular support for his budget and recovery plan, starting last week with an unprecedented appearance on “The Tonight Show” (seen by 8.9 million people) and his Sunday night interview on “60 Minutes.”
That show was watched by 17 million people, making it the fourth-most-watched show of the week, after “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars.” —