O’Reilly ratings skyrocket amid controversy

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s ratings have sharply increased since a Saturday report that five women who accused him over the years of sexual harassment were paid a combined $13 million.

More than 3.76 million people watched “The O’Reilly Factor” at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, a 20 percent jump from the Tuesday edition one week prior, according to Nielsen Research.

{mosads}O’Reilly’s Tuesday program even beat offerings on ABC and NBC at that hour, in a rare victory for a cable network over broadcast television. 

The ratings bump comes despite major advertisers pulling their ads from the show since Saturday’s report. 

More than 30 companies have dropped their ads from the Fox prime-time cable program, according to CNBC.

Jenny Craig, Subaru, Ancestry, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, BMW of North America, Mitsubishi Motors, Lexus, Constant Contact, Bayer, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Orkin, Untuckit, Allstate, Esurance, T. Rowe Price, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Credit Karma were among the companies.

Fox indicated in a statement on Tuesday that ads were being shifted to other programs on the network.

O’Reilly’s program has been the highest rated in cable news for 15 consecutive years.