ABC’s Dancing With The Stars Season 35 premiere reached 9.98 million viewers over seven days of multiplatform viewing, ABC announced Wednesday, September 30. That is up 47% from the Tuesday, September 15 episode’s initial live plus same-day audience of 6.77 million, with the seven-day Nielsen total adding viewing on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms.
The Season 2 premiere of R.J. Decker, which followed at 10 p.m. that night, drew 9.61 million viewers across platforms over the same seven days.
Dancing With The Stars Stays Ahead Of Last Season
The 9.98 million seven-day figure is 17% higher than the Season 34 premiere’s 8.50 million from September 16, 2025, and tops every Season 34 episode except the finale, according to ABC. Deadline reported that the show has grown each season since returning to ABC in 2023, in both live plus same-day and seven-day multiplatform viewing.
The Tuesday episode opened a two-night premiere that continued Wednesday, September 16, introducing Season 35’s 16 new celebrity contestants.
R.J. Decker Gets A Boost From Its New Lead-In
R.J. Decker stars Scott Speedman as a disgraced newspaper photographer and ex-con who starts over as a private investigator in South Florida. The 20th Television drama is inspired by Carl Hiaasen’s novel Double Whammy and premiered Tuesday, March 3, 2026. ABC moved it behind Dancing With The Stars for Season 2 when it announced its fall 2026 premiere dates.
Deadline reported that the series, which was on the bubble for renewal, is using the new lead-in and the promotion that comes with it to reach viewers who may not have watched its first season. According to ABC, the Season 2 opener posted the show’s best seven-day streaming performance since the March 10, 2026 episode, and the pilot had its biggest week of streaming since the Season 1 finale nearly five months ago.
The momentum has continued. On Tuesday, September 29, R.J. Decker hit a season high of 3.20 million viewers in early live plus same-day numbers, up 20% over its season average, while Dancing With The Stars drew 7.12 million on Yacht Rock Night, ABC reported.
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