H&C Ratings Winner in Obama Sweepstakes

Sen. Barack Obama appeared on all three cable networks Friday night for three consecutive hours to discuss the comments of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But it was FNC’s Hannity & Colmes that was the big ratings winner.

The interview helped make the 9pmET show the highest-rated of the night in cable news. In fact, it was the single biggest ratings night in both categories for H&C since August 1, 2007 (excluding Super Tuesday).

H&C’s 708,000 A25-54 viewers and 2.71 million Total Viewers (Live +SD) even surpassed their lead-in, The O’Reilly Factor, which is a rare occurrence. During the 8pmET hour, Obama was interviewed on MSNBC’s Countdown (321,000 in demo / 975,000 Total) and on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 (304,000 in demo / 1,167,000 Total). Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar has the breakdown of the media tour.

On FNC, Obama was interviewed by Major Garrett, who has covered the front-runner the entire primary season.

So, will the strong H&C viewership lead to an Obama appearance on another Fox program?

> Update: With a repeat of the Obama interview playing during On The Record at 10pmET, FNC saw another victory in both the demo and Total Viewers.

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