Willie and Korie Robertson’s interview gives ratings boost to Fox’s New Year Eve special

The interview with Duck Dynasty’s Willie and Korie Robertson on Fox News Channel appears to have given a welcome jolt to the network’s New Year’s Eve coverage.

All-American New Year’s Eve on Tuesday put Fox News ahead of CNN’s rival New Year’s Eve Live in total viewers, in the period from 11 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.

This included Bill Hemmer and Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s interview with Willie and Korie Robertson, which helped FNC gain considerable boosts over the previous year.

The special aired from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. and averaged 1.7 million total viewers, compared to the 1.4 million that the CNN offering, co-hosted by Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin, averaged.

In the key news demo, however, CNN’s New Year’s Eve offering still came out on top, averaging 584,000 viewers to the 329,000 that Fox’s offering averaged.

The 11 p.m. to midnight period that included Willie and Korie Robertson’s interview, meanwhile, averaged 1.97 million total viewers, compared to CNN’s 1.73 million.

Again, CNN won the demo in that time period, averaging 742,000 viewers 25-54 compared to 401,000 for Fox.

In the demo, All-American New Year’s Eve averaged 413,000 total viewers during that time period, a 19% boost over the previous year.

Even so, CNN bested Fox in that time period, averaging 2.095 million total viewers and 906,000 in the demo – though those numbers were down 11% and 4%, respectively, from the previous year.