Trump impeachment trial TV audience drops 19% on second day

U.S. President Donald Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow speaks to reporters near the Senate subway in the U.S. Capitol during a recess on the third day of the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, U.S., January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

(Reuters) - About 8.9 million TV viewers watched the U.S. Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, the first day Democrats laid out their case against the president, marking a significant drop from the roughly 11 million viewers who watched on Tuesday, according to Nielsen ratings data.

The audience includes viewership from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm EST on Walt Disney Co's ABC, AT&T Inc's CNN, ViacomCBS's CBS, Comcast Corp's NBC and MSNBC, and Fox Corp's Fox News. The trial continued until 9:43 p.m. EST that night.