TV Ratings: About 26 million watch State of the Union on broadcast networks

President Obama delivering his State of the Union address.

Credit: AP

Fast National ratings for Monday, January 24, 2011.

President Obama's State of the Union address combined to average 26.1 million viewers across the Big Four broadcast networks, with NBC (on the backs of a lead-in from "The Biggest Loser") getting the most young viewers for the speech. And the CW's usual decision to program original episodes opposite the address gave the network its most-watched Tuesday of the season.

NBC won the night in the 18-49 year-old demographic, with a 2.4 rating and 7.8 million viewers overall. CBS was second with a 1.7 and 9.3 million, followed by FOX (1.4, 4 million), ABC (1.2, 5.2 million) and the CW (0.9, 2 million).

8 p.m. - NBC led the hour in the demo with "Biggest Loser" (3.0, 8.7 million), while an "NCIS" repeat on CBS was the hour's most-watched show (2.3, 13.2 million). A "Glee" repeat (1.6, 4.7 million) on FOX was third, followed by a repeat "No Ordinary Family" (1.1, 4.4 million) for ABC and "One Tree Hill" (0.9, 1.9 million) for the CW.

9 p.m. - In demographic order, the State of the Union coverage went NBC (2.3, 8.4 million), CBS (1.7, 8.5 million), ABC (1.6, 6.7 million) and FOX (1.3, 3.4 million). In its first Tuesday airing, "Hellcats" (0.9, 2.2 million) got its biggest audience since late September.

10 p.m. - NBC was the only network to stick with post-speech analysis for the whole hour, and averaged a 1.7 demo rating and 6.3 million viewers. CBS was next with the Republican rebuttal and then a "Big Bang Theory" repeat, which combined for a 1.2 and 6.2 million, followed by ABC with the rebuttal and a "Cougar Town" repeat, which combined for a 1.1 and 4.6 million.

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.