Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly continued to dominate from a ratings standpoint as advertisers have dropped him amid sexual harassment allegations.
On Tuesday night, “The O’Reilly Factor” was the most-watched cable news program on cable news in both total viewers and the key demographic of adults age 25-54. O’Reilly averaged 3.8 million total viewers and 628,000 among the demo.
During the same 8 p.m. ET timeslot, CNN averaged 1 million viewers and 375,000 in the demo, while MSNBC averaged 1.6 million viewers and tied 375,000 among the demo. O’Reilly beat his cable news rivals combined among total viewers.
On Saturday, The New York Times reported that Fox News and O’Reilly have ponied up a whopping $13 million to settle five sexual harassment settlements against the TV host. O’Reilly has denied all allegations. Numerous advertisers have backed away from O’Reilly despite his denial.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Trump defended O’Reilly in a separate interview with the New York Times.
“I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person,” Trump told the Times.
“I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled,” added Trump. “Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.”
O’Reilly clearly has fans other than Trump — or at least groundswell of curious onlookers — as his show grew 20 percent compared to Tuesday last week and 19 percent compared to the same day in 2016.