‘Dancing with the Stars’ Leaps Back Into the Ballroom as Tuesday’s No. 1 Show, Delivering Nearly 7 Million Total Viewers — Scores Show’s Biggest Season Premiere in 6 Years

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• “Dancing with the Stars” continues its unprecedented momentum, blasting off for Season 35 on ABC and Disney+ with 6.67 million Total Viewers, rising over the show’s Season 34 premiere (+24% vs. 5.38 million on 9/16/25) to deliver the show’s biggest premiere audience in six years — since the Season 29 premiere on 9/14/20.
• Among Adults 18-49, the “Dancing with the Stars” season opener jumped +40% over last year’s premiere (1.48 rating vs. 1.06 rating), with the show’s best premiere performance in the key Adult demographic in nine years — since 9/18/17. In fact, the premiere was the top entertainment telecast among Adults 18-49 across television since ABC’s presentation of “The Oscars®” (3/15/26).
• Surging among young women, “Dancing with the Stars” scored its best season premiere delivery among Women 18-34 (2.53 rating) in 13 years — since the Season 17 premiere on 9/16/13.
• “Dancing with the Stars” stood as the No. 1 show of the night, leading the No. 2 show, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” by +51% in Total Viewers (6.67 million vs. 4.41 million) and +279% in Adults 18-49 (1.48 rating vs. 0.39 rating).
• The strong showing pushed ABC to a clear win for the night with 5.34 million Total Viewers and a 1.06 rating among Adults 18-49, leading second-place NBC by double digits in overall viewers (+38%; vs. 3.87 million) and triple digits in the key Adult demo (+221%; vs. 0.33 rating), respectively.

“Dancing with the Stars” is produced by BBC Studios.

“Premiere: Night Two” airs this evening, Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 8 p.m. on ABC and Disney+, streaming next day on Hulu. The female celebrities make their competition debut, performing to a No. 1 song from the year they were born, with one eliminated at the end of the night.

Source: Nielsen National Live+Same Day Preliminary Panel Only Program Ratings for 9/15/26 and 9/16/25. Previous season comparisons based on Panel Only Data.  

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