Ellen DeGeneres — the winner of dozens of Emmys, and the 2017 People’s Choice award — now appears to have a damaged public image, with her daily talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, losing more than 1 million viewers, after multiple misconduct scandals, and toxic workplace complaints that overshadowed popular program last year.
The 1 million viewer loss came over the course of the show’s 18th season, according to a report by the New York Times. DeGeneres was off the air last summer, and returned from her hiatus to open the 18th season of her show in September, which she kicked off with an apology.
“I learned that things happen here that never should have happened,” DeGeneres had said. “I take that very seriously. And I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected.”
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The Ellen DeGeneres Show became subject to an internal investigation by corporate parent WarnerMedia last year, following accusations that executives allowed a hostile work environment to fester for years. Employees spoke publicly, detailing DeGeneres’ rudeness toward show staff, and claimed that she had enabled a workplace culture that allowed for her higher-level employees to engage in rampant sexual misconduct for years.
The 18th season premiere of The Ellen DeGeneres Show had the highest ratings of any other season opener in the last four years of the talk show, according to the Times. But over the next six months, the show lost an average of 1.5 million viewers — down from 2.6 million in the same period last year — according to the research firm Nielsen.
Viewers appeared to have tuned in for the apology, only to tune out en masse afterwards.
While other daytime talk shows have also dropped in viewership, none of them have experienced the steep decline that The Ellen DeGeneres Show has, which translates to a 43 percent decline.
DeGeneres’ show was once in the same league with talk shows like Dr. Phil (3.1 million), and Live: With Kelly and Ryan (2.7 million). But The Ellen DeGeneres Show now finds itself close to shows hosted by Maury Povich (1.4 million), Kelly Clarkson (1.3 million), and Jerry Springer’s former security guard Steve Wilkos (1.1 million).
DeGeneres’ drop in viewership includes a 38 percent decline among her core audience — adult women under the age of 54, according to Nielsen.
Moreover, the decline appears to have affected the show’s ad revenue as well.
From September to January of the previous season, DeGeneres’ talk show brought in $131 million from advertisers, reports NYT, citing research firm Kantar. But this past season, in the wake of the toxic workplace scandal, the show has earned $105 million from ad revenue — a drop of about 20 percent.
Additionally, DeGeneres’ primetime game show, Ellen’s Game of Games, has lost 32 percent of its viewers this season, and 35 percent of the drop-off is in the all-important adult demographic.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.
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