Fact Check: Truth Behind Claims Whoopi Turned 'The View' Into Lowest-Rated TV Show in History
America's Last Line of Defense/Faceobook
Claim:
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg has made "The View" talk show the lowest-rated show in television history.
Rating:
Labeled Satire (About this rating?)
On June 12, 2024, the Facebook account America's Last Line of Defense claimed that television personality Whoopi Goldberg caused ABC's talk show "The View" to become the lowest-rated show in TV history. The post stated:
Let's all congratulate Whoopi Goldberg for making The View the Lowest Rated Show in Television History!!!
🤣🤣🤣
That's right, folks. The ratings don't lie, and The View is officially the worst show ever.
(America's Last Line of Defense/Facebook)
As of this writing, the post had garnered more than 3,000 comments. Many social media users believe it was real, while others viewed the claim as fake. One user commented under the post, "I have never watched nor do I know anyone that does yet the clips I see are just reflective of an IQ centric issue. Do these folks know how to think for themselves or are they just robots?" Another user suggested that the post was likely untrue: "The ratings don't lie, but you do!!! The ratings for this show as well as the Emmy awards just keep going up."
However, this story was not true. America's Last Line of Defense (ALLOD) Facebook page is a satire and parody account affiliated with the satire news site the Dunning-Kruger Times. The "Intro" section of its Facebook page declares, "The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real." The page is also classified as "Satire/Parody." Therefore, we rate this claim as "Labeled Satire."
Television ratings gauge the popularity of TV programs by measuring how many people watch them and their demographic breakdowns. In the USA, Nielsen ratings primarily measure TV ratings. Nielsen collects data through electronic meters and other devices attached to TVs and surveys from selected households. Nielsen uses this data to estimate the number of viewers for each show.
Per an April 2024 news release from ABC News:
'The View' Ranks No. 1 in Households and Total Viewers Among the Daytime Network Talk Shows and News Programs for the Week of March 25
ABC's "The View" delivered 2.512 million Total Viewers, 219,000 Women 25-54 and 142,000 Women 18-49 during the 1st quarter of 2024, based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research.
For the 1st quarter, The View" ranked No. 1 in Households (1.71 rating) and Total Viewers (2.512 million) among all network and syndicated daytime talk shows and news programs, leading "Live with Kelly and Ryan" (1.64 rating and 2.438 million, respectively), NBC's "TODAY Third Hour" (1.39 rating and 2.041 million, respectively), "TODAY with Hoda & Jenna" (1.01 rating and 1.488 million, respectively), CBS' "The Talk" (0.87 rating and 1.314 million, respectively) and "NBC News Daily" (0.81 rating and 1.211 million, respectively).
A report published by the Soap Opera Network in the first week of May 2024 stated, "'The View' hit a new season low among Total Viewers during the week of April 29-May 3, 2024 with just 2.161 million viewers tuning in." However, "The View" did not rank as the lowest TV show in any listed categories.
Snopes frequently fact-checks stories that originated from America's Last Line of Defense, including one claiming that Kurt Russell did not enjoy working with Robert De Niro, and one that said Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker was named team captain for the 2024 NFL season.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
Sources:
Dave. TV Ratings and What They Mean - Central Casting. 23 Sept. 2019, https://www.centralcasting.com/tv-ratings-what-they-mean/.
"Daytime Broadcast Ratings for the Week of March 11-15, 2024." IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64500194/. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ALLODSatire/posts/pfbid02YwuNtLKrtvP2raPC3mL7XuEWe24pUA9FdCkcHXvuJzS2qETmXmhYPzP7hk6m35cbl. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Lewis, Errol. "Daytime Broadcast Ratings for the Week of April 29-May 3, 2024." Soap Opera Network, 8 May 2024, https://www.soapoperanetwork.com/2024/05/daytime-broadcast-ratings-for-the-week-of-april-29-may-3-2024.
Mitovich, Matt Webb. "What Were the TV Season's Most-Watched Shows? And Which Cancelled Dramas Had the Most Viewers?" TVLine, 31 May 2024, https://tvline.com/lists/most-popular-tv-show-rankings-2024-ratings/.
Porter, Rick. "TV Long View: A Guide to the Ever-Expanding World of Ratings Data." The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Oct. 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/tv-ratings-explained-a-guide-what-data-all-means-1245591/.
Television Rating. 12 June 2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/television-rating.
'The View' Ranks No. 1 in Households and Total Viewers Among the Network and Syndicated Daytime Talk Shows and News Programs for the Week of March 18. https://www.dgepress.com/abcnews/pressrelease/the-view-ranks-no-1-in-households-and-total-viewers-among-the-network-and-syndicated-daytime-talk-shows-and-news-programs-for-the-week-of-march-18/. Accessed 14 June 2024.
"TOP 10." Nielsen, https://www.nielsen.com/data-center/top-ten/. Accessed 14 June 2024.