Press release - Ratings
June 4, 2026
‘THE MYSTERY OF RICHARD SIMMONS – A DIANE SAWYER SPECIAL’ SOARS OVER 10 MILLION TOTAL MULTIPLATFORM VIEWERS ACROSS ABC, DISNEY+ AND HULU
One-Hour Special Ranks No. 1 Across the Board, Leading by Double-Digits in Time Period Versus Non-Sports Programming
ABC News’ “The Mystery of Richard Simmons – A Diane Sawyer Special” (5/12/26) has amassed 10.212 million Total Viewers to date, including 7 days of linear viewing for the original airing and streaming through 6/2/26 on ABC, Disney+, Hulu and other digital platforms, along with Live+Same Day viewing for its Monday encore telecast on 6/1/26.
- “The Mystery of Richard Simmons – A Diane Sawyer Special” rose +57% over the show’s initial Live+Same Day audience (vs. 4.732 million), where it stood as the most watched ABC News Primetime Special in nearly 6 years — since 8/30/20, with “Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute to a King.”
- On linear, “The Mystery of Richard Simmons – A Diane Sawyer Special” ranked No. 1 in its 9:00 p.m. time period in Live+Same Day viewing among non-sports programming, leading the first hour of CBS’ “NCIS: Sydney” season finale in Total Viewers (+39%/+1.322 million – 4.732 million vs. 3.410 million), Adults 25-54 (+93%/+322,000 – 688,000 vs. 346,000) and Adults 18-49 (+76%/+193,000 – 446,000 vs. 253.000).
- On its encore telecast on Monday, “The Mystery of Richard Simmons – A Diane Sawyer Special” averaged 2.704 million Total Viewers and ranked as the night’s No. 1 program on broadcast.
The special was produced by ABC News Studios. Mark Robertson and David Sloan are senior executive producers, and Tess Scott Davidson is executive producer.
Source: Nielsen National Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings for 5/12/26 and Live+7 Day and ABC Multiplatform+7 Day Data through 6/2/26. Encore telecast on 6/1/26 for Live+Same Day. Beginning 8/31/20, national ratings also include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Prior to 8/31/20, ratings do not include OOH viewing.
*COPYRIGHT ©2026 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All photography is copyrighted material and is for editorial use only. Images are not to be archived, altered, duplicated, resold, retransmitted or used for any other purposes without written permission of ABC News. Images are distributed to the press in order to publicize current programming. Any other usage must be licensed.
Media Contacts
You must be logged in to view this content. Please log in or create an account.