'Biggest Loser' Outdraws Obama?

Alternate working headline: Biggest Loser beats Biggest Loser

Here's a look at the numbers. If you combine the entire 8 pm hour when Obama spoke, the four networks showing him and a show afterward (except for CBS) within the hour combined for 30.2 million viewers. Based on Obama fatigue and his numbers for primetime speeches this year, however, you can figure perhaps up to a third of the audience tuned in after his self-serving speech. Even if you can say he had that entire 30.2 million, that's still over 10 million fewer viewers than the economic recovery speech of March 24.

Consider "Biggest Loser" and Obama on NBC at 8 drew 8.1 million viewers. In the 9 pm hour, BL drew 9.7 and then 10.2 in the 10 pm slot, which just happens to also beat Jay Leno's average in that timeslot for NBC. So BL increased viewership in the two hours after Obama.