Hannity gets 20 percent ratings boost thanks to Trump interview

Fox News host Sean Hannity’s interview with former president Trump earned him a sizable bump in audience this week.

Hannity’s show on Monday netted just over 3 million viewers, the most of any show in the 9 p.m. hour, including 358,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen Media Research figures.

During the wide-ranging interview, Trump shook off various investigations he is facing, including one stemming from his handling of classified documents. He also used Hannity’s program to criticize Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is widely expected to challenge him for the GOP nomination for president in 2024.

Trump’s personal friendship with Hannity is well documented, but his appearance this week was the first since he announced his third run for the White House and comes amid relentless attacks the former president has leveled against Fox over its coverage of DeSantis.

It also comes as Fox fights back a $1.6 Billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which is arguing in court that the network was worried about its ratings falling after Trump lost the 2020 election and chose to air his false claims about the election as a result.

The network is defending itself on First Amendment grounds, arguing Trump’s claims of voter fraud were newsworthy and it had a journalistic responsibility to cover them.

Fox remains the top-watched network on cable, including in the two years since Trump left office, with Hannity and fellow primetime hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham pulling in tens of millions of viewers each month.

Court documents filed Monday show all three could take the witness stand during a trial in the Dominion case, which is expected to start next month.