Sean Hannity loses ratings war even after Trump begs for viewers

Not even a presidential tweet can turn around Sean Hannity’s second-place ratings on Fox News.

Just hours before Hannity’s show Wednesday night, Trump tweeted out a plea that people watch the Fox News program that night:

Big show tonight on @seanhannity! 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2018

What viewers saw Wednesday night, in part, was attorney Joe DiGenova claim that special counsel Robert Mueller had surrounded himself with “legal terrorists,” and that Trump should cease all cooperation with the Russia probe.

It’s all part of a Fox News-sponsored campaign to smear federal prosecutors in order to protect Trump as he clings to power.

DiGenova nearly became Trump’s top defense attorney last month, after John Dowd quit the post. 

Yet despite Trump promoting Hannity’s show to his 50 million Twitter followers, Hannity received no ratings bump whatsoever and his show still came in second place behind MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night.

During the 9 p.m. slot, Maddow drew 3.2 million viewers, compared to Hannity’s 3 million.

In terms of the ad-friendly demographic of viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, Maddow won the night in a landslide with 770,000 viewers to Hannity’s 570,000.

This is part of a larger trend this spring where Hannity finds himself trailing Maddow on a nearly nightly basis as she emerges as the most-watched host in all of cable news.

By getting Trump to tweet out a promotion for his show on Wednesday, Hannity played his ace. And it flopped.