All the primetime shuffling at Fox News in recent months — with the departure of Megyn Kelly and the ouster of Bill O’Reilly — worked out to the benefit of Rachel Maddow. The MSNBC star has, for the past several months, supplanted O’Reilly as the No. 1 rated host in cable news.

But on Monday, Sean Hannity moved his show to the 9:00 p.m. time slot to compete directly with Maddow. And the early returns suggest that Maddow is going to have her hands full holding on to that top spot.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hannity won the first night of head-to-head competition, notching 3.27 total viewers, and 666,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic. Maddow trailed with 2.66 million viewers overall, and 591,000 in the key demo.

Hannity replaced The Five in the 9:00 slot for Fox News — a show which was unable to duplicate its 5:00 p.m. hour success in prime time. The Five is now back at 5:00, with Hannity back at 9:00 where he held down the fort for years — first with longtime partner Alan Colmes, and then solo.

Despite Maddow’s success, Fox News managed to complete its 63rd consecutive quarter as the No. 1 network in cable news — a streak dating back to 2002.

[images via screengrab]

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