Dancing With the Stars delivered its best ratings in almost a decade for Tuesday’s (November 25) three-hour Season 34 finale, where Robert Irwin and his pro-partner Witney Carson waltzed away as champions.
According to Variety, citing Nielsen figures, the DWTS finale scored 9.24 million total viewers and a 2.15 rating in the coveted Adults 18-49 demographic. The demo number not only doubled last season’s finale (1.14) but it was the show’s strongest since Robert’s sister, Bindi Irwin, won the Mirrorball trophy in November 2015 with Derek Hough.
In terms of total viewers, Tuesday’s finale, which also featured Alix Earle & Val Chmerkovskiy, Dylan Efron & Daniella Karagach, Elaine Hendrix & Alan Bersten, and Jordan Chiles & Ezra Sosa, had its strongest ratings since the Season 23 finale nine years ago.
ABC reports the DWTS finale is the top entertainment telecast since this year’s Oscars ceremony, which also aired on ABC. It reached a 53 per cent audience share in the 18-49 demo, which ABC says is the largest share of available viewers since the 2004 series finale of Friends.
Tuesday’s finale saw the five remaining couples take on three different dances, including a judges’ pick, an insta-dance, and a freestyle. After hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough announced that they received over 72 million votes (doubling last season’s 32 million), Robert and Carson were declared the winners.
The finale success comes after a season of ratings growth. In October, the show rose for the second straight week since the season premiere, the first time this had occurred in 20 years.
Ratings rose again for Week 5’s Wicked Night, pulling in 6.63 million total viewers, up 11% on the week prior. This made DWTS the first fall show in the past 34 years, since Nielsen introduced its electronic measurement system in 1991, to grow its same-day audience for five straight weeks after the season premiere.
With the recent ratings success, could DWTS return to airing two seasons per year? Executive producer Conrad Green addressed this in a recent interview with TV Insider.
“It’s sort of out of our hands,” he said. “Being on twice a year is great for the show, but there’s a lot to be said for being on once a year. It just feels like a real event that everyone looks forward to. You don’t want to overstay your welcome.”
However, he added he would “happily embrace that challenge.”
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