ABC "Dancing With the Stars"
ABC’s hit ballroom dance competition “Dancing With the Stars” has been around for 30 seasons, with the season finale of season 30 airing on November 22, 2021.
The show will very likely be renewed for another season, but it has not yet been officially announced by ABC. If renewed, season 31 would likely air in the fall of 2022, meaning there is plenty of time for the network to make a decision on the fate of the show.
Read on for more information about “Dancing With the Stars” including ratings and possible renewals or cancelations.
Season 30 Had Low Ratings
For fans of the show hoping for another season, the ratings throughout season 30 bring only bad news.
Some of the episodes of season 30 of “Dancing with the Stars” brought in record low viewership for the program. That’s saying a lot, even if TV ratings are down across the board. The show never beat out its competitors on a Monday night, mostly losing the highest spot of the night to “The Voice” on NBC.
According to TVSeriesFinale, the series drew in over 4 million people each week with a high during the season premiere on September 30, 2021, when 5.466 million people tuned in and a low in the middle of the season on October 12, 2021, when 4.321 million people watched.
When compared to the season before, that’s a record low for “Dancing With the Stars.” The premiere, even with the highest ratings of the season, was still down 32 percent from the prior season, and every episode in season 29 of the show brought in over 5 million viewers with a high for the premiere of over 8 million viewers, according to TVSeriesFinale.
The lowest episode in season 29 when it came to viewership was also in the middle of the season, but the low was 5.4 million viewers, which is over 1 million more than season 30’s low.
A Renewal Is Still Likely
Even with low ratings, it’s likely that “‘Dancing With the Stars” will be renewed for another season, as it’s a huge viewership boost for ABC and still sits at the top of all the network’s programming when it comes to ratings.
Unlike in previous seasons, however, the answer does not seem as clear-cut as it once was for the network. With such low viewership in comparison to previous seasons, it’s possible executives will want more of an overhaul for the show.
According to The Sun, an insider told the outlet that the “talent and not Tyra [Banks]” was the reason for the lower than expected ratings.
“There is a sense that they do not want to make any comments, because they were the ones to bring in Tyra,” the source told the outlet. “And no one wants to lose face saying out loud there are problems. It doesn’t reflect well on the decision. So far the only discussion point about the struggles has been the talent pool this year, which has not appealed to audiences – and nothing to do with Tyra.”
“Dancing With the Stars” airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern (live) and Pacific (recorded) on ABC.
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