Television ratings of the Trump indictment soared to 10.2 during the middle of Tuesday’s workday, surpassing many of the most popular shows on television.
“In overnight, major market ratings coverage of the arrest and arraignment of Donald Trump totaled a 10.2 rating and 50 share across eight networks from 1:30-3:30p,” Fox Cooperation’s Michael Mulvihill posted on Twitter.
The indictment’s 10.2 rating soars over the average ratings of 2022 evening news (6.47), the 2023 Golden Globes (1.1), the 2023 Oscars (4.0), and Trump’s own “Celebrity Apprentice’s” best rating of 10.1 in its 2004/2005 season.
Compared to the seven-day averages for the full 2021-22 TV season, Trump’s indictment ranks fifth among 146 shows.
The only shows with greater ratings are Sunday Night Football (18), Thursday Night Football (15.4), NCIS (10.9), and FBI (10.29).
The coverage of the Trump indictment in the afternoon was resumed in the evening when the former president spoke for the first time at Mar-a-Lago around 8:30 PM Tuesday evening. Nearly every network carried the speech. MSNBC was among those who refused.
Incredible pic.twitter.com/hBNlYzrBBk
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) April 5, 2023
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.