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‘The View’ vs. ‘The Talk’: One Side Is Claiming Total Victory

Jan 18, 2017  •  Post A Comment

ABC’s “The View” and CBS’s “The Talk” might be thought of as natural enemies — two daytime talk staples on rival broadcast networks, each hosted by panels made up of about five women, competing for eyeballs in the crowded and lucrative daytime talk universe.

It’s only natural, then, that whichever one comes out on top might crow about it, and this week that honor goes to “The View.” ABC sent out a press release today breaking down the Nielsen figures for the week of Jan. 9 and declaring in its headline: “ABC’s ‘The View’ leads ‘The Talk’ across the board.”

The numbers tend to back up that claim, with “The View” leading “The Talk” for the week in key demos, based on Nielsen Live+Same Day data. “The View” leads in total viewers, 3.115 million to 2.817 million; women 25-54, 590,000 (1.0 rating) to 505,000 (0.8); and women 18-49, 424,000 (0.7 rating) to 356,000 (0.6).

Of course, CBS’s “The Talk” might still be considered an upstart in the genre, having been on the air only since 2010. In contrast, “The View” pretty much created the female-focused broadcast daytime talk panel genre and got off to a big head start, launching all the way back in 1997.

The announcement notes that the show was pre-empted for breaking news on Wednesday, Jan. 11, with its figures for the week based on the other four days.

The ABC show appears to be on the upswing, with season-to-date gains in all three metrics along with an upward trend week by week. For the week of Jan. 9 the show had its largest overall audience in nearly two years, according to the ABC announcement.

The show was up for the third consecutive week in total viewers and women 25-54 (3.115 million total viewers vs. 3.045 million the previous week; and 590,000 women 25-54 vs. 570,000). The number of total viewers was the show’s largest since the week of Feb. 23, 2015.

Season to date, “The View” is posting gains across the board vs. a year ago — up 12% in total viewers, 5% in women 25-54 and 4% in women 18-49. And season to date, “The View” leads “The Talk” in the three key metrics: “The View” leads by 6% in total viewers (2.896 million vs. 2.739 million), 10% in women 25-54 (540,000 vs. 490,000) and 19% in women 18-49 (407,000 vs. 341,000).

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