Larry King Triples His Typical Audience For Farewell, 2 Million Tune In

Larry King ended his 25-year run at CNN where he used to be all the time — on top of the ratings.

The Nielsen Co. said Friday that an estimated 2.24 million people watched the last episode of “Larry King Live.” He beat the usual leader in cable news during that time slot, Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, who had 2.16 million viewers.

King had been averaging 672,000 viewers a night this year, typically third in his time slot behind Hannity and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow — and sometimes even fourth behind HLN’s Joy Behar.

King, a pioneer in cable television news, had President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton wish him well on his final daily CNN show.