This is not good news for The View, which had managed to stay away from the headlines for the past month, following weeks of non-stop reports of internal discord and the departure of co-host Rosie O’Donnell. For the second time, CBS’ The Talk has won the battle for total viewers over the embattled ABC daytime talk show. This time, the CBS talker also topped its ABC rival in the key women 18-49 demographic, marking the first time The Talk has come up on top in both categories the same week.
For the week ending March 15, The Talk had an average of 2.61 million viewers, compared to The View’s 2.59 million in live plus same day ratings, according to Nielsen. In W18-49, The Talk’s 0.7 rating bested The View’s 0.6. It was a tie for women 25-54 (0.9).
The Talk first beat The View in total viewers for the week ending January 11. That time The Talk had an average of 2.95 million viewers, a 2% jump over the 2.88 million The View pulled over the same period. The two shows tied in W18-49 that week as they have a number of times this season. This marks The Talk‘s first demo win this season though the CBS talker has prevailed in W18-49 in previous years.
Both shows for the week ending March 15 were originals, with no preemptions. Part of the boost for Sharon Osbourne-co-hosted The Talk may have been due to an appearance by daughter Kelly Osbourne, who made her first comments about her Fashion Police exit on the show on March 11.
It’s been a rough season for The View following a string of departures last summer, including Jenny McCarthy, Sherri Shepherd and of course co–creator/lead host Barbara Walters.
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