Donald Trump remains ratings gold for Fox News Channel, as Sean Hannity's interview with the Republican presidential hopeful produced the top demo score for any cable news program on Tuesday night.
Less than a week after FNC set cable news ratings records for the first primetime GOP debate of the 2016 election cycle, "Hannity" averaged 628,000 adults 25-54 on Tuesday for its exclusive interview with Trump. With its top delivery since April, "Hannity" beat the combined 10 p.m. demo totals of CNN (170,000 for "CNN Tonight") and MSNBC (101,000 for "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell").
Compared to the same night a year ago in the hour, "Hannity" spiked by 138% while CNN was down about 5% and MSNBC lost more than a third of its audience.
Among all cable news programs for the night, "Hannity" ranked No. 1 in adults 25-54 -- ahead of FNC skedmates "The Kelly File" (503,000) and "The O'Reilly Factor" (421,000), with Eric Bolling filling in as guest host for Bill O'Reilly on the latter. In total viewers, "Kelly" drew 2.678 million to lead the way among cable news programs, followed by "O'Reilly" (2.479 million) and "Hannity" (2.232 million).
See more: Trump Says Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Promised 'Fair' Coverage
Tuesday's interview was Trump's first appearance on Fox News in the days since he complained about the interview tactics of the network's Megyn Kelly, one of the moderators for last Thursday's debate from Cleveland. Talking with Hannity, the billionaire businessman touted his standing in the latest GOP election polls, and also laid out specific policy proposals for Obamacare, Planned Parenthood and the economy.
Last week's GOP debate lifted Fox News to its highest-rated week since the Iraq War in 2003.
© 2025 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.