Megyn Kelly/Alex Jones Interview Is A Ratings Bust

(RTTNews) - Megyn Kelly's controversial interview with conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones generated a lot of attention for the fact that it would be telecast, but ultimately failed to draw many viewers.

This week's airing of "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly" brought in an average of only 3.5 million viewers Sunday night, the lowest figure since the weekly news magazine telecast debuted three weeks ago.

The debut episode that featured a heavily-promoted and exclusive interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin drew an average of 6.2 million viewers, but the show has seen a steady decline in viewership since then.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the show came in last place among the four major networks during the Sunday 7 p.m. time slot.

Kelly's show trailed Fox's U.S. Open Golf Championship coverage that had 6.1 million viewers, a re-run episode of CBS' "60 Minutes" that was watched by 5.3 million viewers, and also an ABC repeat of "America's Funniest Home Videos" that attracted 3.7 million viewers.

Despite generating low viewership, the interview received a lot of media attention and criticism before being telecast. In fact, the buildup to the interview had raised expectations that it would attract a wide audience.

Many people were critical of Kelly's decision to interview Jones due to his promotion of unfounded conspiracy theories, including claims that the 9/11 attacks were an "insider job" and that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012 was a hoax aimed at promoting tougher gun control laws. There were even calls for a boycott of the telecast.

Critics feel that Kelly and NBC made a mistake in providing Jones with a national platform to put forth his viewpoints and thus help him gain wider mainstream exposure.