Dancing with the Stars helped to kick off the Fall 2025 TV season on Sept. 16 with the season 34 premiere standing as ABC’s first premiere of the new fall season. The premiere kicked off the new season with 5.5 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in the coveted adults 18-49 advertiser demographic. The premiere marked a 6% increase in viewership and an impressive 49% increase in the demo from season 33’s premiere.
Tuesday’s season premiere was the most-watched season opener for Dancing with the Stars since season 29 debuted in 2020. The premiere also managed to easily beat its competition on the night with Variety reporting that the premiere beat the combined averages of all broadcast competition in its time slot.
It wasn’t just the ratings that were up. Fan voting rose an astounding 163% from the season 33 premiere, with 21 million votes being cast for the season 34 couples in the opening, and social engagement was up 58% with 2.7 million interactions during the premiere. The premiere numbers mark a continued trend for Dancing with the Stars with season 33 ending with the show’s strongest numbers in three years.
With the show experiencing a cultural resurgence, it’s time for ABC to admit it needs to make a major change to its strategy: We need to bring back the spring cycle!
Dancing with the Stars deserves a spring season
As longtime fans know, Dancing with the Stars once aired twice a year, with a season in the fall and a season in the spring. This is a formula that worked incredibly well for the show, as it allowed the show to cast a wider net with its celebrity casting. For example, the spring season often brought in some of the biggest names in the NFL who were able to compete on the show during the offseason.
This is a format that many hit reality shows still leverage, most notably with NBC’s The Voice and CBS’s Survivor, two equally popular shows that air two seasons every calendar year.
When ABC cut Dancing with the Stars’ spring season, they did so at a time when ratings for the show had begun to drop. It was a move made in an effort to keep the show going, and it’s one that worked in allowing the show the time to continue engaging with its longtime fans while reinventing itself. This reinvention allowed the show to begin reaching a new audience, with the show bringing in more modern-day stars from social media and buzzy reality programs, while still bringing in notable stars from other areas of the entertainment industry.
At a time when ABC no longer is able to rely upon The Bachelor franchise to fill its scheduling holes, there is no better time for the network to turn to Dancing with the Stars. With the show enjoying a resurgence in popularity, ABC has the perfect opportunity to capitalize on this newfound popularity by returning to the twice-yearly format.
Sure, it could be a risk that doesn’t pay off, but we have to imagine fans would welcome a second season in the spring. Plus, it would be nice to get to see some NFL greats once again waltzing onto the ballroom to compete for the Mirrorball Trophy!