EXCLUSIVE: Despite a difficult year for broadcast television, ABC can look back with confidence as it kicked off the year with some strong scripted content and was buoyed through a rocky fall season primarily by unscripted content.
The broadcast network managed to hold strong throughout the entire year with the return of series including The Rookie and American Idol, as well as the introduction of new favorites like Will Trent and The Golden Bachelor.
“ABC’s success this season demonstrates the ongoing vitality of the linear network offering and its invaluable role in delivering content to audiences across platforms,” Debra OConnell, president, Networks and TV Business Operations, Disney Entertainment Television said in statement to Deadline. “It’s been a tremendous year for the network and we’re looking forward to building on this success in the months ahead.”
Here are some of the highlights:
Will Trent kicked off the year on a high note, improving the Tuesday 10 p.m. slot by 170% in total viewers for ABC, according to Nielsen data. The time period was also up 57% among adults 18-49.
It’s hard to compete with CBS’ Tuesday FBI lineup, which consistently pulls some of the largest linear audiences for scripted dramas nowadays, but Will Trent narrowed in during that 10 p.m. hour. While FBI: Most Wanted averaged around 5M live + same-day viewers per episode, Will Trent averaged just over 3M, peaking with the premiere’s 3.6M.
Will Trent made for ABC’s strongest series in the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour since Big Sky during the 2020-2021 season. After 35 days of multiplatform viewing, Will Trent managed about 9.43M viewers per episode, finishing the 2022-2023 broadcast season as ABC’s No. 3 series.
Tuesday nights also benefitted from the return of The Rookie, which moved to the 8 p.m. hour in January. The show actually improved in this time slot, averaging around 3.2M live + same-day viewers per episode. That’s up 56% in total viewers from that time period’s comparable weeks the year prior. The time slot was also up 31% among adults 18-49.
After 35 days of multiplatform viewing, episodes grew to around 10.4M viewers, which made it ABC’s No. 1 scripted series in delayed viewing.
The Rookie was also against some tough competition in the 8 p.m. hour, with FBI‘s 7M average viewers looming, but still the procedural managed to pull out a strong performance. Compared to The Rookie‘s Sunday performance, Season 6 was up 7% in total viewers and 17% among adults 18-49.
The first half of the year was also buoyed by strong performance from ABC’s stalwart series American Idol, which emerged as the No. 2 unscripted series last year among adults 18-49, tying with Fox’s The Masked Singer. American Idol averaged a 0.92 rating in delayed viewing.
In the second half of the year, the broadcasters had to weather through a fall schedule that was devoid of most scripted series due to the writers and actors strikes. ABC had two tricks up its sleeve with the introduction of The Golden Bachelor and the reintroduction of Dancing With The Stars — which helped keep those weeknight primetime slots eventful.
ABC got the ratings rose when it introduced The Golden Bachelor to the airwaves. The latest iteration of The Bachelor franchise has proved to be a smashing success for the network, which had been trying to reinvigorate its long-running dating series for some time.
The Golden Bachelor posted six consecutive weeks of audience growth heading into the finale, which saw over 9M people tune in after seven days of multi-platform viewing. That’s up pretty heftily from the 6.1M who watched live, which was already the franchise’s biggest audience in nearly three years.
The fall also welcomed back Dancing With The Stars to the broadcaster after the ballroom competition series moved exclusively to Disney+ for one season. Disney never released viewership figures for that season of DWTS, but the move to bring it back to ABC in a different time slot indicated the series could benefit from airing on broadcast. And it did.
The premiere episode stayed even with Season 30’s (the last to air on broadcast) debut audience. From there, ABC managed to “eventize” some of the episodes to draw an even bigger audience. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Taylor Swift night drew the biggest crowd, delivering the show’s most-watched telecast in years.
The November finale drew the second largest audience of the season with 5.5M viewers tuning in to watch Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy take home the mirrorball trophy. Overall, Season 32 averaged just under 5M live + same-day viewers, according to Nielsen.
As mentioned above, there wasn’t too much competition from the other broadcasters for eyeballs during primetime, though on Thursdays CBS’ Big Brother went head-to-head with The Golden Bachelor, which bested the former in live + same-day viewing.
On Tuesdays, Dancing With The Stars had competition from both NBC’s The Voice as well as CBS’ Big Brother. The Voice came out on top in that battle of the reality series with nearly 6M viewers on Tuesday nights, though Dancing With The Stars came in second.
ABC is also touting the strength of its game shows, like Celebrity Jeopardy!, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, The $100,000 Pyramid and Press Your Luck. According to the network, more than 80% of the seven-day audiences for these shows come from linear viewing.
“I am so proud of the team at ABC for the strategy and creative excellence that propelled the network to #1 in entertainment last season and again in the demo this fall,” said Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group. “This past year, we successfully introduced the latest pop culture sensation with The Golden Bachelor, brought back a fan favorite – Dancing with the Stars, delivered can’t-miss live events, and transported audiences through our scripted series, including our newest, Will Trent and Not Dead Yet.”
