TV Ratings: Maddow Tops O'Reilly on Wednesday as Scandal Coverage Continues

Fox News' 'O'Reilly Factor' is No. 1 in total viewers, again up week-to-week, but dips from Monday and Tuesday.

As the likelihood of Bill O'Reilly addressing his current scandal on-air appears to dwindle, so did his Wednesday showing in the key news demo.

The O'Reilly Factor lost its No. 1 status in the demo for the night — which featured his third original telecast since The New York Times broke the news that he and Fox News Channel have settled multiple sexual harassment claims levied against the top-rated host — to MSNBC's resurgent The Rachel Maddow Show. Maddow, fresh off of key wins in March, outperformed O'Reilly by 8 percent on Wednesday night. She averaged 607,000 adults 25-54 to his 561,000.

O'Reilly, naturally, scored a bigger audience. He averaged 3.6 million viewers. And while the nightly win marked gains from the previous Wednesday, it ranks as his least-watched and lowest-rated telecast of the week, albeit marginally.

More than 20 advertisers (and counting) have pulled spots from The O'Reilly Factor since the Times published its story, but its ratings appear to be unaffected. Despite Wednesday's dips, this week is still pacing ahead of the previous one. O'Reilly's audience is up 10 percent, through three days, though he is essentially flat in the demo.