• by Wayne Friedman , July 17, 2006

Controversy breeds nice daytime drama ratings. As a result of Star Jones Reynolds' firing scandal, ABC's "The View" hit its highest ranking among daytime shows--fourth place--in its history, among 18-49 viewers. The Star Jones Reynolds controversy came to light during the week of June 26 in a People magazine article.

For the week ending July 3-7, those viewers grew 8 percent versus the week before to a Nielsen 1.5 rating/10 share--the highest numbers in four weeks for the show. For ABC, women 18-49 are the main selling demographic for its daytime advertisers; and they lead all networks in that category. Other networks, such as CBS, score better with women ages 25-54 for advertisers.

"The View" has been seeing even better results with younger viewers. Its 18-34 numbers are up 17 percent from a year ago. Overall, ABC says that it is the only network to improve its numbers on women 18-34, versus a year ago. Season to date, ABC daytime's lineup ranks No. 1 among women 18-49, with a 1.6/10. Second is CBS with a 1.5/9, and NBC is third with a 1.4/8.

But CBS still leads in overall daytime viewers with 4.2 million. ABC is next with 3.1 million, and NBC is at 2.5 million. CBS is also a leader among all daytime dramas with 3.9 million viewers. ABC is second with 3.2 million, and NBC is third with 2.5 million.