Obama press conference draws 24.7 million

President Obama's fourth primetime press conference since taking office drew 24.7 million viewers across 11 networks on Wednesday night.

That's down 14% from the president's last primetime press event. Obama took questions from reporters at the White House about his plan to universalize health care. 

The networks carrying the press conference were ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision*, Telemundo*, BBC-A, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

Meanwhile Fox benefited from declining to air the president's news conference, with "So You Think You Can Dance" rising to top the night in the adults 18-49 demographic.

Meanwhile, NBC's heavily promoted "America's Got Talent," featuring an interview with "Britain's Got Talent" winner Susan Boyle, slipped to its lowest Wednesday rating ever as it faced "Dance" as well as ABC's "Wipeout."

With Obama's news conference at 8 p.m., "America's Got Talent" (11.1 million viewers, 2.4 rating/7 share among 18-49, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings) had a less-compatible lead-in than its usual repeat opener.

ABC's coverage of the news conference also pushed the network's strongest summer series, "Wipeout" (6.2 million, 2.3/7) to go head-to-head with "Talent," resulting in a three-way fight at 9 p.m. that particularly hurt "Talent" and "Wipeout."

Meanwhile, Fox enjoyed a head start with the first hour of "Dance" (7.3 million, 2.8/10) dominating the 8 p.m. hour against newscast competition.

At 9 p.m., the dancing competition also took top honors in the 18-49 demo, averaging 7.3 million viewers and a 2.9/9 in 18-49.

"Talent" was the most-watched program in the hour and for the night.