New York CNN  — 

President Trump, a ratings junkie, should be pleased with the results of his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

The ratings for Tuesday’s prime time address were up slightly compared with the same speech last year.

The hour and a half long event averaged 46.8 million viewers across 12 broadcast networks and cable channels that showed the address live.

Last year his State of the Union averaged about 45.8 million viewers.

Tuesday night was not a personal best for Trump, since his first joint address to Congress in early 2017 drew about 48 million viewers.

But for the first time, he can claim a clear ratings victory over his predecessor.

The State of the Union audience at the start of Trump’s third year as president exceeded the viewership for Barack Obama’s comparable speech in 2011.

Obama’s speech averaged 42.8 million viewers that year.

Presidents typically find that interest in their prime time addresses wanes over time, with some exceptions of course.

Obama’s first address to Congress averaged 52.4 million viewers in 2009, his first State of the Union in 2010 averaged 48 million, and his 2011 speech averaged 42.8 million.

But viewership has remained pretty steady for Trump’s addresses all three years. The trend-lines are reminiscent of his approval ratings, which have stayed in a relatively narrow and low band for the first two years of his presidency, despite too many controversies and surprises to count.

Tuesday night’s ratings may be another sign of long-lasting interest in the Trump presidency. Passions are high on both sides – both among his fans and foes – leading to widespread interest, excitement and revulsion when he speaks.

Some Democrats were interested in witnessing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi seated behind Trump for the first time; and in seeing the Democratic response by Stacey Abrams.

Some Republicans wanted to see how Trump would address his demands for border wall funding and other issues.

Fox News, MSNBC and CNN all saw big spikes in viewership before, during and after Tuesday’s speech. Fox News had the biggest total audience by far, just like last year, reflecting the cable channel’s dominant position among Trump’s political base. Fox averaged 11.1 million total viewers on cable.

Also like last year, NBC drew the biggest audience among the broadcast networks, with 7.1 million viewers.

Nielsen ratings count viewership at home via TV sets. Most streaming video and out-of-home viewership is counted separately.

A CNN instant poll found that the address drew “a deeply Republican audience.” In fact, “the audience had the largest partisan tilt measured in any CNN instant poll following a presidential address to Congress dating back to 2001 – viewers were roughly 17 points more likely than the general public to identify as Republicans, and were largely fans of the President,” CNN’s Jennifer Agiesta reported.

Last year, after the State of the Union, Trump tweeted a claim that he reached “the highest number in history,” which was not even close to being true.

The highest-rated SOTU speech in the last two decades, according to Nielsen, was George W. Bush’s 2003 address in the run-up to the Iraq War, when 62 million people tuned in.

Trump hasn’t tweeted yet about this year’s ratings.