According to reports, “The View” allegedly hit a new season low among total viewers during the week of April 29-May 3, 2024.

Image courtesy of America’s Last Line of Defense/Faceobook

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.