The first inaugurations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama were the only ones to exceed Joe Biden's in popularity among television viewers over the past 40 years.
The Nielsen company says 33.8 million people watched Biden's inauguration between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday. The top inaugural was Reagan's in 1981, which was seen by 41.8 million people. Obama's first oath-taking reached 37.8 million.
Biden also beat predecessor Donald Trump, whose 2017 inauguration was seen by 30.6 million.
By comparison, football was also big for the week. The pro football conference championship games each brought more than 40 million people to their televisions over the weekend.
