--- ---  # Obama's Final State of the Union Was His Least-Watched ## Video: State of the Union in Under 4 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): State of the Union in Under 4 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IYWlSLur.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2016-01-13. State of the Union in Under 4 Minutes_ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 13, 2016 11:44 PM UTC  President Barack Obama waves at the conclusion of his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill January 12, 2016 in Washington, D.C. In his final State of the Union, President Obama reflected on the past seven years in office and spoke on topics including climate change, gun control, immigration and income inequality. President Barack Obama waves at the conclusion of his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill January 12, 2016 in Washington, D.C. In his final State of the Union, President Obama reflected on the past seven years in office and spoke on topics including climate change, gun control, immigration and income inequality.Pool—2016 Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jan 13, 2016 11:44 PM UTC President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union Tuesday and it was the lowest-rated of his annual speeches. Roughly 31.3 million viewers tuned in to see Obama make his [last State of the Union](http://time.com/4178440/state-of-the-union-donald-trump/) speech, according to ratings data released Wednesday by Nielsen. While this may seem like a lot of people, it isn’t [when compared to the earlier years of his presidency](http://time.com/4173599/state-of-the-union-tv-ratings-social-media/) or even to other speeches during other administrations. Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech garnered roughly 48 million viewers. President George W. Bush’s last State of the Union in 2008 was watched by 37.5 million Americans. State of the Union ratings have been dropping steadily for the better part of two decades, as Americans have more entertainment options on any given night. **Read More:** [Why Fewer People Will Watch Obama’s Last State of the Union](http://time.com/4173599/state-of-the-union-tv-ratings-social-media/) Even though viewership is down on the television screen, numbers on the second screen have continued to rise. This year some 9.8 million Twitter users in the U.S. saw one or more tweets about the State of the Union, while 2.6 million tweets were sent about the speech, according to Nielsen. 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