Dancing With the Stars Grammy Night Hits a Season-High Rating
The Nov. 10 episode of Dancing With the Stars drew a season-high rating among younger adults, according to early figures from Nielsen, the company that measures US TV audiences.
The show averaged 7.33 million viewers across ABC and Disney+ in Nielsen's preliminary ratings, which are the first numbers released before later adjustments. That total does not yet include viewers who watched away from home or those counted through big data, a term for additional viewing measured across screens and time periods. The Hollywood Reporter reported the figure.
The audience total is not the season's biggest. The show's Oct. 20 episode reached 7.36 million viewers. The Grammy Night episode did score a season-high 1.58 rating among adults aged 18 to 49, which is the group advertisers watch most closely. A rating is the percentage of that group watching, and 1.58 works out to about 2.15 million people in that age range. The previous season-best rating for that group was 1.56 on Oct. 13. That figure included big data and out-of-home viewing, so the two numbers are not measured in exactly the same way.
The episode was built around music. Couples danced to songs that have won or been nominated for Grammy Awards, and the show featured live performances from Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris, and Brandy and Monica. The episode also narrowed the competition to six couples. The semifinal round is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Looking at the season so far, the show is averaging about 6.89 million same-day viewers and a 1.48 rating among adults 18 to 49 through the Nov. 10 week. At the same point last season, it averaged 6.1 million same-day viewers and a 1.23 rating in that age group. Every week this season has beaten the same week a year ago.
Same-day numbers count only people who watched the show on the night it aired, and they are a common yardstick for comparing seasons. Viewers who watch later, on a streaming service or recorded on a digital video recorder, add to the total in later reports. A full week of cross-platform viewing adds more than a million people to the Dancing With the Stars figures.
For the dancers and crew, the numbers mean the show returns for another week. The next results will show whether the semifinal holds the audience the Grammy Night episode drew.
