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Is Ellen DeGeneres no longer popular? Her show loses a million viewers after 2020 toxic workplace scandal

The show’s loss of more than a million viewers translates to a 43 percent decline, representing “'a steeper drop than any of its competitors'
PUBLISHED MAR 23, 2021
‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ has lost more than a million viewers since September (Getty Images)
‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ has lost more than a million viewers since September (Getty Images)

Last year, Ellen DeGeneres faced public backlash after former employees of the program alleged racial insensitivity and bullying on the set, alleged sexual misconduct between executives and lower-level employees, and also the host’s complicity in the toxic work environment. DeGeneres apologized for it all, but did that fix the damage? Apparently not. ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’, per reports, has lost more than a million viewers.

The New York Times reported that when the daytime talk show returned from a summer hiatus for its 18th season in September — also when the host publicly apologized on TV — the episode had the highest ratings for an ‘Ellen’ premiere in four years. But subsequently, things went downhill. As per Nielsen, ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ has lost more than a million viewers since September, averaging 1.5 million viewers over the last six months, down from 2.6 million in the same period last year.

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Ellen Degeneres at Rockefeller Center on September 8, 2015, in New York City (Getty Images)

As per the Times, the show’s loss of more than a million viewers translates to a 43 percent decline, representing “a steeper drop than any of its competitors”. ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ is no longer in the same league as rivals like ‘Dr Phil’ and ‘Live: With Kelly and Ryan’. Instead, the show finds itself competing with daytime talk shows hosted by Maury Povich, Kelly Clarkson, Rachael Ray, Tamron Hall, and Jerry Springer’s former security guard Steve Wilkos — all of which are much less popular.

The Neilsen report has other bad news for DeGeneres. It says that the loss of viewers includes a 38 percent decline in her core audience, adult women under 54. And obviously, this has affected ad revenue. In July 2020, Forbes noted that DeGeneres “earns more than half of her cash from her daily talk show” because she gets about 60 percent of profits from advertising, carrying fees, and product placement. 

From September to January of the 2019-20 season, the show reportedly brought in $131 million from advertisers. That has fallen to $105 million for the same period in 2020-21, a drop of about 20 percent.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi attend the Netflix 2020 Golden Globes After Party on January 05, 2020, in Los Angeles, California (Getty Images)

David McGuire, an executive vice president of programming at Telepictures, a subsidiary of the show’s producer, Warner Bros, contested the reports on the show’s dwindling viewership. He said, “‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ remains one of the top three highest-rated syndicated talk shows this season. 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.”

After last year’s accusations of a toxic work environment on set, sexual harassment, and racism, Warner Bros conducted an investigation. Three top producers — Ed Glavin, Kevin Leman and Jonathan Norman — were fired from the show by August 2020. 

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