I never understood why his was the most popular political news show. Maybe something about his voice and the calm but dominant image he was pushing made soccer moms feel safe and secure? Personally, I always found him to be kind of self important and narcissistic. On any given topic, he uses the word, "I" as often as an Obama speech. Also, I've always thought he's a bit too quick to shut down conversations when his morals are offended, and his morals get offended pretty easily on a lot of topics.
That said, this was a nothing test. When Fox News came on the scene it got immediate buzz for the same reason Rush Limbaugh did: It was a news outlet for conservatives in a medium devoid of any mainstream right wing voice. They had nobody to compete with over an audience just DYING for representation and for someone speaking to -them-. Newsmax is trying to break into a different landscape now, in a dying medium, where the audience they're fighting for is owned by the biggest organization in the field. For the big, regularly scheduled events, like SOTU's, people tend to go with familiar networks that they know are going to cover it. O'Reilly on Newsmax never stood a chance, regardless of his personal draw as compared to other pundit/anchors.