ABC Concludes September to May Season With Top Five Shows Among Adults 18-49 Including ‘High Potential,’ ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘The Rookie,’ ‘Shifting Gears’ and ‘9-1-1’

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In the first full September-May broadcast season in which Nielsen has published competitive streaming performances for linear series, ABC finished with the top five broadcast series among Adults 18-49 in multiplatform rankings: “High Potential” (No. 1 – 3.85 rating), “Abbott Elementary” (No. 2 – 3.25 rating), “The Rookie” (No. 3 – 2.49 rating), “Shifting Gears” (No. 4 – 2.39 rating) and “9-1-1” (No. 5 – 2.38 rating).

• Overall, ABC owned seven of the top 20 shows among Adults 18-49 with the addition of “Will Trent” (No. 14 – 1.64 rating) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (No. 15 – 1.62 rating), with ABC holding the greatest number of shows versus CBS (six), FOX (four) and NBC (three).
• In fact, with the conclusion of the broadcast season, ABC aired the No. 1 new drama, (“High Potential”), more than doubling its closest new competitive drama, CBS’s “Matlock” (+120% – 3.85 rating vs. 1.75 rating), and had the No. 1 new comedy (“Shifting Gears”), leading the closest new comedy runner-up, CBS’s “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” by +34% (2.39 rating vs. 1.79 rating).
• ABC also claimed the No. 1 returning drama (“The Rookie”), leading the closest returning competitive drama, CBS’s “Tracker,” by +16% (2.49 rating vs. 2.15 rating), and held the No. 1 returning comedy (“Abbott Elementary”), beating its closest returning comedy competition, CBS’ “Ghosts,” by +49% (3.25 rating vs. 2.18 rating).

“High Potential” Continues Ratings Dominance

• Continuing to lead among broadcast series, ABC’s “High Potential” stood as the No. 1 new drama among Total Viewers (16.14 million) and No. 1 new show among Adults 18-49 (3.85 rating).
• The show’s stellar streaming performance on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ more than doubled the next highest competitive drama, CBS’ “Tracker,” among Adults 18-49 (+136% – 3.14 streaming rating vs. 1.33 streaming rating).
• “High Potential” grew over +50% from its initial Multiplatform+7 ratings through 35 days of viewing (+56% – 3.85 rating vs. 2.47 rating).
• For the season, including encores, “High Potential” has logged nearly 13 billion minutes (12.98 billion) on linear and streaming platforms.

ABC Comedies Lead the Competition

• “Abbott Elementary” was the No. 1 comedy among Adults 18-49 (3.25 rating), leading its closest competitor, FOX’s “Bob’s Burgers,” by double digits (+38%; vs. 2.36 rating).
• “Shifting Gears” ranked as the No. 1 new comedy among Adults 18-49 (2.39 rating), also leading its closest competitor, CBS’s “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” by double digits (+34%; vs. 1.79 rating).

Source: Cross platform analysis of Nielsen Linear + SCR data based on 35 days of viewing. 2024-2025 STD (9/23/24-5/21/25), Includes pre-premieres. Entertainment original series only. Excludes sports, specials, repeats and news programs. 4+ telecasts.  

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