ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” once again beat out the competition, averaging 18.8 million viewers during its key 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. time slot, according to Nielsen ratings, up from 17.9 million viewers last year.
This made “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” produced by Dick Clark Prods., once again the No. 1 entertainment special on New Year’s Eve. The television show reached its peak at midnight, when more than 30 million viewers watched the usher in the new year as the ball dropped in Times Square. That was an increase from last year’s 29 million viewers.
According to the ABC chart of Nielsen data, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” beat CBS’ “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” by +255% and also CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” by an undisclosed amount.
In total, this year’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” lasted nearly eight hours – the longest in the franchise’s history, since its launch in 1971, now 1972. The 2025-2026 marathon began at 8 p.m. ET and ended at 4 a.m. ET.
The event, hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Rita Ora of New York’s Times Square, brought together 42 artists in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. The show ended with a huge fireworks display along the Las Vegas Strip.
The event was also broadcast live on more iHeartRadio stations nationwide, which it said reached 2 million P6+ listeners on Wednesday, a +9% increase from last year.
According to Talkwalker Social Content Ratings, primetime “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2026” was the #1 program on all television in total interactions and video views on New Year’s Eve. Additionally, according to Listen First, Busta Rhymes’ performance of “Look At Me Now” as part of DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live! was the #1 most viewed clip on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook for the day.
Highlights of the show included Diana Ross singing “I’m Coming Out”, “The Boss”, “Upside Down”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Tomorrow”. Other guests included Ciara, Little Big Town, Maren Morris and THE SSERAFIM.
The full event averaged 34 million total viewers throughout the night, with out-of-home audiences still to come.
Variety’s parent company, PMC, owns Dick Clark Prods. in a joint venture with Eldridge.
