Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
More On:
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
-
Ellen DeGeneres Vows To Disappear After Her Upcoming Netflix Special: "This Is The Last Time You're Going To See Me"
-
Ellen DeGeneres Teases First Stand-Up Special Since Her Toxic Workplace Scandal And Promises, "Yes, I'm Going to Talk About It"
-
'9-1-1's Ryan Guzman Pens Touching Tribute To Late 'Step Up' Co-star Stephen "TWitch" Boss: "You Changed My Life"
-
Ellen DeGeneres Says She "Hated" The Way 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' Ended: "It Was Devastating"
After a rocky summer, the fallout continues for Ellen DeGeneres. The talk show host has lost over one million viewers from her Ellen DeGeneres Show audience in less than a year, The New York Times reports. According to Nielsen, DeGeneres’ show started strong with one of the highest-rated premieres ever in September, but has since declined to an average of 1.5 million viewers over the past six months compared to 2.6 million last year.
The loss marks a 43% decline in viewership, dropping it below competitors like Live: With Kelly and Ryan and Dr. Phil, which each average around 3 million. DeGeneres has also seen a drop in her female audience, with a 38% decline in adult women under 54. Now, the Ellen Show is ranked among talk shows from Kelly Clarkson, Tamron Hall, and Maury Povich, who average between 1.1 million and 1.4 million.
In a statement shared with the New York Times, David McGuire, an executive vice president of programming at Telepictures, described The Ellen Show as “one of the top three highest-rated syndicated talk shows this season,” adding, “While broadcast is down across the board and Covid has been challenging for production, we are looking forward to bringing back our live audiences and a 19th season filled with all of the hilarious and heartwarming moments that have made Ellen one of the longest running and most successful talk shows in history.”
DeGeneres’ drop in viewership doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following the embattled host this past year. It all began with complaints from her crew during Covid last spring, but the controversy ballooned with a Buzzfeed News report in July that detailed a toxic workplace at The Ellen Show. At the time, current and former employees reported facing “racism, fear and intimidation” at work, and not long after, WarnerMedia launched in investigation into the behind-the-scenes culture of The Ellen Show.
Multiple senior producers were later fired, with executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman let go, and the show increased employee perks in an effort to raise morale.
Despite a scandal-filled few months, DeGeneres returned to set in the fall and poked fun at the headlines about her behavior on the show in her opening monologue. “The truth is I am that person that you see on TV. I am also a lot of other things. Sometimes I get sad, I get mad, I get anxious, I get frustrated, I get impatient,” she said, adding, “I am a talk show host and you know that, but maybe some of you know that, you know, I was an actress. I’ve played a straight woman in movies so I’m a pretty good actress. But I don’t think that I’m that good that I could come out here every day for 17 years and fool you. This is me and my intention is to always be the best person I can be.”
While DeGeneres wasn’t scared away from her show by some bad publicity last summer, her contract runs through next year, and Warner Bros. confirmed the the New York Times that The Ellen Show would be returning for Season 19. However, a spokesperson did not comment when asked if next season would be DeGeneres’ last. Regardless, she’s not going anywhere — the host has inked a deal with Warner Bros. to produce four HBO Max programs, and she’s working on content for Discovery.
