Next to Last “Ellen” Ratings Skyrocket

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending May 22, 2022.

In the session ending May 22, which was the week leading up to the last dance for Ellen DeGeneres (1.1 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 22% in households and up 33% in the key W25-54 demo from the week before) the talk show walked away with the strongest increase of any program of any type in syndication.

The strip also racked up the largest year over year improvement of any strip in original production, advancing 22%.

The winner of 61 Emmys — including 11 for Outstanding Talk Show, surpassing the Oprah Winfrey record – “Ellen” ended its run after more than 3,200 episodes on May 26.

Although national Nielsens for that May 26 finale will not be available until next week, overnights for Ellen’s farewell episode were up sharply from its lead-in in the four largest markets with gains of 125% in New York, 129% in Los Angeles, 225% in Chicago and 300% in Philadelphia.

Back in the frame ending May 22, the No. 1 talker for the second week in a row was Dr. Phil (1.6, steady) with an average 2,254,000 daily viewers. Live with Kelly and Ryan (1.5 steady) was a close second.

The only other show in the top five moving up was the recently renewed Tamron Hall (0.7, up 17%), which delivered a dramatic 50% improvement in the advertiser-coveted demo.

Court shows were led as usual by Judge Judy (4.5, steady) with Hot Bench (1.4, steady) a strong number two.

Jeopardy (5.3, up 2%) continued to set the pace among game shows with Family Feud (5.1, unchanged) next in line.