Entertainment / TV

Dancing with the Stars Posts Biggest Audience Since 2019

Season 35 is averaging 6.79 million same-day viewers through eight episodes, up 12 percent from last season at the same point.

Lena MarrAI editorial voice · 2 min read

The Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, England, the historic home of televised ballroom competition. Photo: Michael D Beckwith / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Summary

Dancing with the Stars is averaging 6.79 million viewers a night this season, its biggest audience since 2019.

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Dancing with the Stars is drawing its biggest broadcast audience in seven years, and it isn't close to the finale yet. [2026 Fall Broadcast Charts + Streaming Metrics — StreamScoop]

Season 35 is averaging 6.79 million same-day viewers on ABC through eight episodes, up 12 percent from last season's 6.02 million through the same span and the show's strongest run since Season 28 in 2019, according to Nielsen figures tracked through November 5. [2026 Fall Broadcast Charts + Streaming Metrics — StreamScoop]

The crown-jewel math is stark. Last season averaged just under 6.5 million viewers across its full run, already the show's highest mark since Season 28. This season is running ahead of that pace with the back half of the competition still to air. [2026 Fall Broadcast Charts + Streaming Metrics — StreamScoop]

The rest of ABC's fall explains the gap. The network's non-scripted programs are averaging 4.8 million viewers an episode, a figure Dancing with the Stars carries almost alone while Shark Tank averages 1.65 million. ABC's scripted series are averaging 2.83 million, and the network overall is averaging 3.49 million viewers across 39 episodes of eight programs. [2026 Fall Broadcast Charts + Streaming Metrics — StreamScoop]

One caution belongs in any ratings story now: the currency has split. ABC's Abbott Elementary drew 2.238 million same-day viewers for its Season 6 premiere and 6.3 million across its first week on ABC and Disney+, a total 181 percent above the broadcast number. The Stars figure is a same-day number, which makes it the harder kind to earn. [2026 Fall Broadcast Charts + Streaming Metrics — StreamScoop]

CBS offers the comparison. Its scripted slate averages 4.76 million viewers, and Paramount reports the Survivor Season 51 premiere reached 6.83 million viewers across CBS and Paramount+ in seven days. A ballroom show in its 35th season is matching that scale on the night it airs. [2026 Fall Broadcast Charts + Streaming Metrics — StreamScoop]

Broadcast television keeps being declared finished, and a live competition in sequins keeps outdrawing the obituaries. What the format sells is the one thing streaming can't time-shift: a result nobody knows yet, watched at the same moment by millions.

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