Streaming Numbers Show ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Still Has Its Footing, While ‘R.J. Decker’ Gets a Lifeline

Live television ratings have long been treated as the definitive scorecard in the entertainment business, but the latest numbers out of ABC suggest that story is increasingly incomplete. New multi-platform data shows that both “Dancing with the Stars” and freshman-turned-sophomore drama “R.J. Decker” are pulling in significant audiences well after their initial broadcasts, a trend that is reshaping how networks judge success — and, in at least one case, may have helped save a show from the chopping block.

“R.J. Decker,” the crime series starring Scott Speedman, entered its second season on shaky ground. The show had been considered a renewal bubble candidate after its freshman run last spring failed to make much noise in traditional same-day ratings. But its Season 2 premiere, freshly slotted behind “Dancing with the Stars” on Tuesday nights, has found new life in delayed viewing. According to seven-day cross-platform figures spanning Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and a single ABC encore airing, the premiere drew a total audience of 9.61 million — the show’s best streaming showing since the second episode of its debut season back in March. The halo effect didn’t stop there: curiosity generated by the new season also drove a surge in viewership of the original pilot episode, which posted its biggest streaming week in nearly five months.

That kind of ripple effect is exactly what networks hope for when they pair a struggling scripted series with a ratings workhorse. By placing “R.J. Decker” directly after “Dancing with the Stars,” ABC effectively handed the drama a built-in audience of viewers who might never have sampled it otherwise. The strategy appears to be paying off, at least in the early going, giving the series a second chance to prove its staying power with a broader base of streaming-first viewers.

Meanwhile, “Dancing with the Stars” itself continues to defy expectations for a show now well into its third decade on the air. The Season 35 premiere faced a difficult comparison point: last year’s Season 34 debut was a standout hit for the long-running reality competition. Yet the new season still managed to climb 17% above that benchmark, pulling in 9.98 million viewers over seven days across Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and other digital platforms, compared to 8.50 million for the prior season’s opener. Measured against the show’s initial same-day broadcast audience of 6.77 million, the multi-platform total represents a 47% jump — a reminder of just how much of the show’s real audience now lives outside the traditional Tuesday-night broadcast window.

Perhaps more notable is the broader trajectory: since “Dancing with the Stars” returned to ABC in 2023 after a stint on Disney+, the series has grown its audience every single season, whether measured in live same-day numbers or the fuller seven-day multi-platform tally. That kind of consistent growth is a rarity for any series in its 35th installment, let alone one built around a format — celebrities paired with professional dancers competing week to week — that has been a staple of American television for two decades.

Industry watchers say the numbers underscore a broader shift in how success is defined in the streaming era. Same-day linear ratings, once the only currency that mattered for advertisers and network executives alike, are increasingly viewed as a partial snapshot rather than the full picture. Shows that might look soft on paper the morning after they air can reveal themselves to be far more resilient once delayed streaming and on-demand viewing are factored in over a full week — a dynamic that clearly worked in favor of both “R.J. Decker” and its higher-profile lead-in.

For ABC, the pairing of a proven reality staple with an unproven scripted drama looks, for now, like a smart bit of scheduling chess. Whether “R.J. Decker” can sustain its newfound momentum once the novelty of its premiere fades remains to be seen, but for a show that was reportedly fighting for its survival just months ago, a nearly 10-million-viewer multi-platform debut is about as strong a lifeline as network television can offer.