The War of 18-49, Dancing with the Stars

DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC) 

Scheduling history: It took a few seasons of shuffling for ABC to figure out where they wanted to put Dancing with the Stars. It debuted as a Wednesday-only program in summer 2005. Its first regular season turn was a Thursday/Friday season. Then it went to Tuesday/Wednesday for the fall 2006, then in spring 2007 ABC finally put it in the Monday/Tuesday slots where it remained for many years. Starting in fall 2013, ABC removed the Tuesday results show, and fall 2018 was the start of just one cycle per season.

See (who saw) how it all began: Like so many of today's hits, Dancing with the Stars was not exactly high on its network's priority list from the get-go. It debuted as an early-summer show with just a six-episode order on 6/1/05, where it pulled 13.5 million total viewers and a 4.3 demo. A six-episode season of that show seems so ludicrous nowadays, when there are two eps a week for two months! By the end of that first season, it had climbed all the way to a 6.7 demo.

The best of times: A special Sunday finale for season two of the show (which was a midseason entry on Thursdays/Fridays) pulled a whooping 8.6 demo on 2/26/06, a number that no other season has really come within striking distance of matching. But that was an enormous spike from an otherwise fairly ho-hum season by DWTS standards; that finale brought the Friday results average up by more than a point! The highest overall season was the third, which saw every performance show break a 5.0 demo, but the spring 2011 campaign was most potent compared to the rest of the entertainment field.

The worst of times: Starting in fall 2011, Dancing with the Stars began a three-year run of fast bleeding. That season was down at least 20%, and the subsequent two (both of which had to face emergent singing competition The Voice) each dropped 30%+ on the performance night and 25%+ on the results night. For many years, the worst seasons on a historical-adjusted basis came in the 2012-13, and there was a notable recovery across the next five. But the next downturn began in 2017-18, starting with a soft-ish fall season and ending with an ill-conceived four-week 'Athletes' edition in the spring. That became the first DWTS season to drop below the league average, including a 1.0 demo on 5/7/18 and 5/14/18. The bad times continued the next fall season, which got as low as 0.8, and then a 0.7 on 10/21/19.

Then vs. now: Historically speaking, this was long one of the healthiest of the big reality franchises. That all changed in the 2011-12 season, as NBC threw singing competition shows at DWTS all season. The show took a 20%+ hit in the fall, but that was nothing compared to the massive drops the show took vs. The Voice in the spring. Some drastic change with Dancing with the Stars was seemingly looming for a couple years, and another couple rough seasons in 2012-13 finally made it happen; ABC axed the show's Tuesday results show and only aired it on Monday. But maybe the reduction to one night made a difference, as the series had a couple surprisingly solid seasons in 2013-14 and another couple good ones in 2014-15. It's still not back to vintage DWTS levels, but it got closer than seemed possible during the collapse years. And after some really down years in 2018 and 2019, it found yet another upswing in 2020.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	Summer 2005	Wednesday 9:00	5.10		4.3	6.7	detail
2	Winter 2006	Thursday 8:00	5.03	-1%	4.6	5.5	detail
		2	Winter 2006	Friday 8:00	4.82				3.0	8.6	detail
3	Fall 2006	Tuesday 8:00	5.68		5.2	7.5	detail
		3	Fall 2006	Wednesday 8:00	4.82				3.7	7.1	detail
4	Spring 2007	Monday 8:00	5.30	+5%	4.8	6.4	detail
		4	Spring 2007	Tuesday 9:00	4.75	-2%			3.9	6.7	detail
5	Fall 2007	Monday 8:00	5.24	-8%	4.7	6.0	detail
		5	Fall 2007	Tuesday 9:00	4.69	-3%			3.9	6.4	detail
6	Spring 2008	Monday 8:00	4.68	-12%	4.1	5.6	detail
		6	Spring 2008	Tuesday 8:00	4.25	-11%			3.6	5.4	detail
7	Fall 2008	Monday 8:00	4.41	-16%	3.9	5.3	detail
		7	Fall 2008	Tuesday 9:00	3.91	-17%			3.3	5.1	detail
8	Spring 2009	Monday 8:00	4.86	+4%	4.2	6.1	detail
		8	Spring 2009	Tuesday 9:00	3.62	-15%			2.8	5.2	detail
9	Fall 2009	Monday 8:00	3.66	-17%	3.4	4.1	detail
		9	Fall 2009	Tuesday 9:00	3.30	-16%			2.6	4.3	detail
10	Spring 2010	Monday 8:00	4.84	0%	4.0	6.4	detail
		10	Spring 2010	Tuesday 8:00	2.83	-22%			2.4	3.9	detail
11	Fall 2010	Monday 8:00	4.32	+18%	4.0	5.1	detail	A-
		11	Fall 2010	Tuesday 9:00	3.78	+15%			3.1	5.3	detail	A-
12	Spring 2011	Monday 8:00	4.65	-4%	4.0	5.3	detail	A
		12	Spring 2011	Tuesday 9:00	3.63	+28%			3.0	4.6	detail	A
13	Fall 2011	Monday 8:00	3.28	-24%	2.8	4.0	detail	D
		13	Fall 2011	Tuesday 9:00	3.06	-19%			2.6	4.1	detail	D
14	Spring 2012	Monday 8:00	2.98	-36%	2.6	3.5	detail	D
		14	Spring 2012	Tuesday 9:00	2.67	-26%			2.2	3.3	detail	D
15	Fall 2012	Monday 8:00	2.26	-31%	2.1	2.7	detail	D
		15	Fall 2012	Tuesday 8:00	2.23	-27%			1.8	3.0	detail	D
16	Spring 2013	Monday 8:00	2.29	-23%	2.0	3.2	detail	D+
		16	Spring 2013	Tuesday 9:00	2.13	-20%			1.5	2.7	detail	D+
17	Fall 2013	Monday 8:00	2.16	-5%	1.7	3.1	detail	B
18	Spring 2014		Monday 8:00	2.33	+2%	1.9	2.6	detail	A-
19	Fall 2014		Monday 8:00	2.13	-1%	1.7	3.0	detail	B+
20	Spring 2015		Monday 8:00	2.10	-10%	1.9	2.3	detail	B
21	Fall 2015		Monday 8:00	1.90	-11%	1.6	2.4	detail	B-
22	Spring 2016		Monday 8:00	1.75	-17%	1.6	2.0	detail	C+
23	Fall 2016		Monday 8:00	1.70	-10%	1.5	2.1	detail	B+
24	Spring 2017		Monday 8:00	1.63	-7%	1.4	2.1	detail		B+
25	Fall 2017		Monday 8:00	1.39	-18%	1.2	1.6	detail	C
26	Spring 2018		Monday 8:00	1.06	-35%	1.0	1.1	detail	D
27	Fall 2018		Monday 8:00	0.95	-31%	0.8	1.1	detail	D
28	Fall 2019		Monday 8:00	0.86	-10%	0.7	1.1	detail	B+
29	Fall 2020		Monday 8:00	0.95	+11%	0.8	1.3	detail	A
30	Fall 2021		Monday 8:00	0.74	-22%	0.7	0.9	detail	B
31	Fall 2023	Tuesday 8:00	0.61		0.5	0.9	detail	A-

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now24	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	Summer 2005	125	big hit(sum)	0.48		106	165	106	165
2	Winter 2006	124	solid	0.47	-1%	113	135	118	121
		2	Winter 2006	119	hit(Fri)	0.45		74	212	74	212
3	Fall 2006	151	big hit	0.57		138	199	151	199
		3	Fall 2006	128	hit	0.49		98	188	109	188
4	Spring 2007	141	hit	0.53	+13%	127	170	170	141
		4	Spring 2007	126	hit	0.48	+6%	104	178	119	178
5	Fall 2007	158	big hit	0.60	+5%	142	181	175	181
		5	Fall 2007	142	hit	0.54	+11%	118	193	124	193
6	Spring 2008	141	hit	0.54	+1%	124	169	169	133
		6	Spring 2008	128	hit	0.49	+2%	109	163	124	163
7	Fall 2008	146	hit	0.56	-8%	130	176	176	156
		7	Fall 2008	130	hit	0.49	-8%	110	170	120	170
8	Spring 2009	162	big hit	0.61	+14%	140	203	203	146
		8	Spring 2009	120	solid	0.46	-6%	93	173	93	173
9	Fall 2009	130	hit	0.49	-11%	121	146	146	142
		9	Fall 2009	117	solid	0.44	-10%	92	153	117	153
10	Spring 2010	172	big hit	0.65	+7%	142	227	227	142
		10	Spring 2010	101	solid	0.38	-16%	85	139	107	139
11	Fall 2010	170	big hit	0.64	+31%	157	201	201	193
		11	Fall 2010	149	hit	0.56	+27%	122	208	173	208
12	Spring 2011	183	big hit	0.69	+6%	157	208	208	185
		12	Spring 2011	143	hit	0.54	+42%	118	181	169	181
13	Fall 2011	139	hit	0.53	-18%	119	169	169	148
		13	Fall 2011	130	hit	0.49	-13%	110	174	123	174
14	Spring 2012	126	hit	0.48	-31%	110	148	148	123
		14	Spring 2012	113	solid	0.43	-21%	93	140	131	140
15	Fall 2012	107	solid	0.41	-23%	100	128	119	128
		15	Fall 2012	106	solid	0.40	-18%	85	142	100	142
16	Spring 2013	109	solid	0.41	-14%	95	152	152	123
		16	Spring 2013	101	solid	0.38	-11%	71	128	114	128
17	Fall 2013	115	solid	0.43	+7%	90	165	165	127
18	Spring 2014	124	solid	0.47	+14%	101	138	138	127
19	Fall 2014	127	hit	0.48	+11%	101	178	143	178
20	Spring 2015	125	hit	0.47	+1%	113	137	125	137
21	Fall 2015	130	hit	0.50	+3%	110	165	144	165
22	Spring 2016	120	solid	0.46	-4%	110	137	124	110
23	Fall 2016	139	hit	0.53	+7%	122	171	171	147
24	Spring 2017	133	hit	0.51	+11%	114	171	171	114
25	Fall 2017	127	hit	0.48	-9%	111	149	149	122
26	Spring 2018	97	marginal	0.37	-27%	87	105	105	104
27	Fall 2018	100	solid	0.38	-21%	89	117	105	117
28	Fall 2019	105	solid	0.40	+5%	89	131	127	131
29	Fall 2020	148	hit	0.56	+41%	124	208	208	154
30	Fall 2021	145	hit	0.55	-2%	129	180	180	172
31	Fall 2023	161	big hit	0.61		124	229	169	177

The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.