Bill O'Reilly returned to cable news on Tuesday night but judging by the reception he got, he might want to stay off the television just a little longer.

The former Fox News don pulled a peak audience of just 17,000 households as he analyzed Trump's State of the Union address, according to Nielsen data seen by Mediaite.

That is compared to viewership in the millions he used to attract at the helm of The O'Reilly Factor, the the number one cable news show for more than 16 years.

Bill O'Reilly served as an analyst for Newsmax TV on Tuesday night during Trump's State of the Union address, but failed to pull in the ratings

He appeared on Newsmax TV, a channel set up by Donald Trump associate Chris Ruddy in 2014, and touted by as a potential challenger to Fox's crown.

O'Reilly lost his job at Fox News in April last year amid revelations that the network paid millions to settle sex harassment claims against him.

The New York Times reported on multiple allegations against O'Reilly, including two made after Roger Ailes was pushed out for similar reasons.

While O'Reilly's show remained top-rated, a massive advertiser boycott saw him dropped by his employer.

He has always denied the allegations, describing the coverage as a 'hit-job'.

Meanwhile the broadcast of Trump's State of the Union address itself drew a combined audience of 45.6million across all networks.

Trump's actual address was watched by a total of 45.6million people across all major networks and was well-received by those at home

The President tweeted the numbers, claiming they were 'the highest in history', though Nielsen data suggests that is not true

The widely-praised speech, Trump's first as president, also garnered 21million 'interactions' across social media, meaning the number of people who were talking about the speech.

The President subsequently tweeted that the viewership figure was 'the highest in history', but data gathered by Neilsen differs.

That data shows Trump's figure was actually lower than for any first address going back to Clinton, who garnered a marginally higher figure of 45.8million in 1994.

George W. Bush pulled in 51.7million viewers for his first State of the Union in 2002 and Obama attracted 48million in 2010.

The all-time record was set at 62million by Bush back in 2003, not including an 'Address to the Joint Sessions of Congress' which Clinton gave in 1993, watched by 66million people.