According to Nielsen, the ratings company, nearly 29 million people watched President Obama’s prime time press conference to mark his first 100 days in office. Pretty impressive. 

But compared with his own earlier star power, Obama’s wattage appears to be slipping. His second prime time presser, in March, drew 40.4 million people. His inaugural foray before the East Room cameras — way back on February 9 — was watched by nearly 50 million.

This seems like a natural decline. Given the saturation coverage of the Obama presidency, and the constant torrent of information from the White House, fewer people feel the need to tune in at a particular time to hear what the president has to say. They’re already pretty familiar with his policies and with his personality, and they can be sure they’ll hear something about him or from him every day.

Wednesday’s news conference wasn’t designed to make news — and didn’t. The challenge for team Obama will be finding fresh, compelling ways to package the president when they actually do want to penetrate their self-generated fog of information.