‘Hannity’ tops cable news ratings with Trump town hall

Donald Trump’s town hall on “Hannity” is paying big dividends for Fox News.

According to Nielsen Research, 2.7 million viewers tuned into Tuesday night’s town hall. The event attracted 589,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic that advertisers covet, placing the cable news program first in both categories.

{mosads}The 2.7 million viewers more than tripled “CNN Tonight,” which attracted 866,000 viewers, and topped MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” which had 1.55 million views.

Host Sean Hannity has been criticized in some media circles lately for also acting as an unofficial adviser to Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. Hannity, however, has been unapologetic, repeating that he’s not a journalist, that he is a longtime friend of Trump’s, and that he’s going to be candid with the GOP nominee regarding his campaign.

“I can’t not speak my mind” when it comes to Trump, Hannity told The New York Times.

Tuesday night marked the fourth time this August that “Hannity” has been No. 1 in cable news.