• by Wayne Friedman , May 29, 2019

Wednesday’s surprise live TV statement of Department of Justice’s Special counsel Robert Mueller rocketed out-of-home TV viewing by 130% over normal levels, attracting 4 million OOH viewers at its peak time.

Nearly 80% of those peak 4 million viewers came from CNN, Fox News Channel, CNBC and MSNBC.

CNN had 1,592,125 viewers, while Fox News Channel came in at 1,533,140, CNBC had 436,395, and MSNBC came in at 389,000. Out-of-home TV data is from Tunity Analytics.

Tunity says the peak viewing of Mueller’s statement was at 11:09 a.m. It also said average viewing -- over a quarter-hour period, 11 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. ET -- showed similar results, with Fox News at 1,397,216; CNN at 1,392,493; MSNBC at 369,540; and CNBC at 358,540. 

Mueller’s 11-minute statement, which came on short notice, commented on his report about Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election, as well as obstruction-of-justice issues surrounding President Trump.

He took no questions from reporters.

Previous high OOH TV viewing moments included NBC’s airing of “The Preakness Stakes,” pulling in 3.3 million at its peak, and NBC’s “The Indianapolis 500,” tallying 2.5 million.

Tunity Analytics measures the out-of-home linear TV viewing occurring in locations outside the home, such as bars, gyms, and offices.

Tunity viewing estimates come from Tunity mobile app usage for May 29, 2019.  

OOH viewer impressions are calculated using Tunity proprietary modeling.