NEW YORK — Tucker Carlson moved into Bill O'Reilly's old time slot at Fox News Channel and, on his first night Monday, took over his predecessor's status as the most-watched host in cable news.
The Nielsen company said that Carlson's first night at 8 p.m. attracted 3.17 million viewers, beating the combined audience of MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who reached 1.52 million viewers, and CNN's Anderson Cooper, who reached 1 million.
Carlson did not beat O'Reilly's nearly 4 million average during the first three months of the year, before being fired following news about Fox settling harassment cases involving him. Carlson had averaged 3.3 million in the 9 p.m. time slot following O'Reilly.
Fox's relocated "The Five" reached 2.76 million people at 9 p.m., while MSNBC's Rachel Maddow had an audience of 2.16 million. CNN's test of a Jake Tapper series at that hour reached 881,000.