The White House shared new viewership data showing that President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address drew millions of viewers on YouTube, outperforming major network streams on the platform.
The White House YouTube livestream peaked at 300,000 concurrent viewers and reached 5 million total views by the end of the night, officials told the outlet.
According to the White House, the stream surpassed other media-sourced YouTube feeds, including those from Fox News, ABC, NBC and CBS.
A senior White House official told the Daily Mail, “This was undeniably one of the greatest speeches ever given, and the administration is leveraging every tool available to innovate ways that drive his America First message through the legacy media barricades and into the new media landscape.”
The 5 million YouTube views marked a 250 percent increase compared to the 2 million total viewers who watched former President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union on the White House YouTube channel.
President Trump’s 2025 joint address to Congress generated 3.4 million YouTube viewers on the official White House channel.
Despite the digital growth, overall television viewership declined year over year.
The 2026 address drew approximately 27.8 million viewers across the seven most-watched broadcast and cable outlets.
That figure represented a roughly 12 percent drop from the 31.45 million viewers who watched President Trump’s address to Congress the previous year on the same networks.
The 5 million YouTube views accounted for roughly 18 percent of the concurrent television audience, according to the Daily Mail.
Three hundred thousand concurrent viewers is a figure often matched or exceeded by major gaming streamers and popular online content creators.
This year, the White House digital team incorporated live graphics and on-screen substantiation during the YouTube broadcast, providing additional context alongside the president’s remarks.
“The streams will continue. The memes will continue,” the senior official told the Daily Mail.
The address included several widely shared moments, including the recognition of American military service members and a cameo by members of the U.S. Olympic gold medal hockey team.
Video of President Trump’s phone call congratulating the hockey team circulated online prior to the speech.
During the address, President Trump invited the team to attend the event, and they appeared in the chamber.
“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it,” the president said before acknowledging the team.
He also announced plans to award Olympic goalie Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
While digital viewership increased, traditional television audiences for presidential addresses continue to trend downward.
It remains unclear whether the shift toward digital platforms will offset declines in overall broadcast viewership in future State of the Union addresses.
