• by Wayne Friedman , January 23, 2013

The TV audience for President Obama's second inauguration was well down from his first -- mostly expected.

Nielsen says 20.6 million viewers tuned in on Monday collectively for all networks -- down from the 37.8 million four years ago. Still, this was more than George W. Bush's second term celebration which came in at 15.5 million in 2004.

Only one President's second inauguration did better than the first -- President Richard Nixon's second term had a 22% rise, going to 33 million viewers from 27 million.

In 1981, President Reagan inauguration hit 41.7 million viewers -- the highest TV audience, according to Nielsen records.

Nielsen analysis covered 18 networks from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. Those networks include; ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, Telemundo, Azteca, MundoFox, PBS, Fox News Channel, CNN Headline News, Fox Business Network, MSNBC, TV One, CNN, Current TV, CNBC, Centric and BET.