Dancing With the Stars made a little bit of TV ratings history with its Oct. 21 episode.
The ABC show delivered 6.63 million viewers for its Wicked-themed night of dances, a season high and the largest same-day audience for DWTS since the start of the 2020-21 season. It also hit a season high among adults 18-49 with a 1.38 rating, which is also its best in several years.
With its week to week gains, Dancing With the Stars has now improved for five straight weeks in total viewers since its season premiere on Sept. 16. According to ABC research, it’s the first fall show in at least 34 years — dating back to the start of Nielsen’s regular measurement of total viewers in 1991 — to grow its audience for five weeks in a row after a season premiere. (DWTS also outdrew NBC’s solid NBA season opener in viewers, though the latter had a slight edge in adults 18-49.)
Dancing’s ABC lead-out, High Potential, is also having a strong season after its breakout rookie campaign. The Oct. 7 episode hit season highs in both total viewers (12.5 million) and adults 18-49 (2.31 rating) after a week of cross-platform viewing. About 35 percent of its viewer total (4.41 million) and more than two thirds of the 18-49 rating (1.6) came via streaming; seven days of linear viewing put the show at 8.09 million viewers and a 0.71 in the 18-49 demographic.
High Potential’s on-air ratings are running well ahead of the same point in season one: In Nielsen’s seven-day linear ratings (i.e., without streaming), the show is averaging 7.62 million viewers, up 29 percent from 5.91 million a year ago.
Elsewhere, the Oct. 19 finale of Task on HBO and HBO Max matched its season high (set a week earlier) of 4 million cross-platform viewers over three days. The crime drama’s premiere has grown to 11.2 million viewers — adding 1.2 million people over the past week — and the season as a whole ranks among the fastest-growing inaugural seasons of any HBO series.
HBO’s comedy The Chair Company is also showing momentum. Its second episode drew 1.5 million viewers over three days, up from 1.4 million for its series premiere. The first episode has grown to 2.7 million viewers over 10 days, putting the show’s season average so far at 2.1 million. The Chair Company is running well ahead of recent HBO comedies Somebody Somewhere and The Rehearsal and in the neighborhood of The Righteous Gemstones (2.3 million viewers).
