Dominating ABC’s primetime and late-night schedule on Sunday, December 31, ABC’s broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” hit a three-year high among Adults 18-49 and Total Viewers in primetime and late-night, Nielsen reported on Tuesday.
Kicking things off from 8:00-10:00 p.m. was part one of the highly rated entertainment special’s primetime edition, which averaged seven million viewers and a 1.81 rating in Adults 18-49. The special was up year-to-year by +35% in Total Viewers (7.0 million vs. 5.2 million) and +33% among Adults 18-49 (1.81 rating vs. 1.36 rating) to score three-year highs in both measures – since 2020.
Part two, which aired from 10:30-11:30 p.m., averaged 10.4 million viewers and a 2.93 rating among Adults 18-49, jumping +30% year-to-year in Total Viewers (10.4 million vs. 8.0 million) and +32% among Adults 18-49 (2.93 rating vs. 2.22 rating), also hitting three-year highs – since 2020.
The second half of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” now ranks as the highest-rated entertainment telecast on any network in primetime since March 12, 2023, when ABC broadcast the Oscars.
As for the late-night edition, part one (11:30 p.m.-12:37 a.m.) averaged 18 million viewers and a 5.33 rating in Adults 18-49, peaking in the midnight quarter-hour with 22.2 million viewers and a 6.41 rating among Adults 18-49. The show was the highest-rated entertainment special on any network in two years – since ABC’s 2021 broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.”
Up +30% year-to-year among Total Viewers (18.0 million vs. 13.8 million) and up +30% among Adults 18-49 (5.33 rating vs. 4.11 rating), part one ranked as the No.1 program on New Year’s Eve among Adults 18-49 and Total Viewers, and was the evening’s No.1 most social program across all of TV and ranked a solid No.1 among social video consumption on the night, growing its video views count by +20% over last year.
Part two of the late-night portion (1:09 a.m.-2:07 a.m.) of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” which came on after ABC’s affiliates took a break for local news broadcasts, also managed to see an uptick in viewership year-over-year, averaging 5.1 million viewers (+19%; vs. 4.3 million) and a 1.47 rating among Adults 18-49 (+14%; vs. 1.29 rating).
In November, ABC announced a deal to continue bringing New Year’s Eve coverage from Times Square through 2029, signing a five-year deal with producer Dick Clark Productions, a division of Penske Media Corporation.