An interview with President Donald Trump delivered a sizeable ratings bump for Fox News’ “Hannity” Thursday night.
Trump’s sit down with host Sean Hannity drew 4.8 million total viewers and 1.2 million in the 25-54 demographic — the core demo for television news — according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers. In total viewers and the demo, the show ranked among the top five broadcasts of all time for “Hannity” in the 10 p.m. timeslot.
“Hannity,” which regularly beats timeslot competition from CNN and MSNBC, outperformed its own total-viewer average for 2017 so far by 62% and for 2016 by 110%. In the 25-54 demo, it outperformed 2017 by 87% and 2016 by 150%. “Hannity” was cable news’ top broadcast in the core demo Thursday night.
The interview was Trump’s second since taking office last week. His interview Wednesday night with ABC News’ David Muir for a primetime special drew 7.5 million total viewers, making it the most watched program of the night.
In his interview with Hannity, Trump took aim at critics including Madonna (“disgusting”) and Alec Baldwin (“terrible”). He also blasted Katie Rich, a “Saturday Night Live” writer who was suspended for tweeting a joke about Trump’s 10-year-old son Barron becoming the country’s “first homsechool shooter.”
“A person from ‘Saturday Night Live’ was terrible,” Trump said. “I don’t mind some humor but it’s terrible. For them to attack, for NBC to attack my 10-year-old son… it’s a disgrace …It’s not an easy thing for him. Believe me.”
