Entertainment

Dancing With the Stars Hits Seven-Day High as R.J. Decker Returns Strong

Putri ArdhanaPublished 4d ago2 min readBased on 2 sources
Dancing With the Stars Hits Seven-Day High as R.J. Decker Returns Strong
Photo by Preillumination SeTh on Unsplash

Dancing With the Stars pulled 9.98 million viewers in seven days for its Season 35 premiere, up 17% on last season's opener.

The Tuesday launch averaged 8.50 million for the Season 34 debut, so this year added almost 1.5 million in the same seven-day measure. The figures, reported as multiplatform seven-day viewing, cover catch-up on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms alongside broadcast replay Deadline.

Live viewing told only part of the story. The premiere started with a Live+Same Day audience of 6.77 million, meaning people who watched live or later that day, then rose 47% to 9.98 million after seven days. That lift recognises how much of the audience now arrives late.

The show has grown each season since returning to ABC in 2023, in both Live+Same Day and MP7 viewing, meaning seven-day viewing counted across television and streaming. No other broadcast entertainment format has held that run so consistently.

Earlier overnight numbers pointed in the same direction but were lower. Preliminary Nielsen ratings had the Season 35 premiere at 6.67 million viewers on ABC and Disney+, up 24% from last year's debut The Hollywood Reporter. That early count compared with 5.38 million for the Season 34 premiere. Those fast national figures were later finalised upward once a full week of streaming was added.

ABC had a second result in the same week. The Season 2 premiere of R.J. Decker drew a total cross-platform audience of 9.61 million viewers over seven days across Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and one ABC encore.

It was the show's best seven-day streaming performance since its second episode of Season 1 on 10 March 2026. The pilot also posted its biggest week of streaming in nearly five months, which suggests new viewers went back to the start.

What makes this stand out is the pairing. One is a long-running unscripted contest in its 35th season. The other is a scripted drama in its second. Both cleared more than 9.5 million in a week when catch-up was included.

Related Articles