ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” once again won the ball-dropping race, averaging 18.8 million viewers in the key time slot of 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., beating last year’s 17.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings.
This makes “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” produced by Dick Clark Prods, once again the number one entertainment broadcast special on New Year’s Eve. The television broadcast peaked at midnight, and as the ball dropped in Times Square, more than 30 million viewers tuned in to usher in the new year. This is up from last year’s 29 million viewers.
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” outsold CBS’ “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash” by +255%, and also topped CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” by an undisclosed amount, according to an ABC compile of Nielsen data.
All in all, this year’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” lasted nearly eight hours. It was the longest run in the series’ history since it began in 1971-1972. 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 from New York’s Times Square, featured 42 performers from New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Puerto Rico and more. The show ended with a huge fireworks display along the Las Vegas Strip.
The event was also broadcast live on more than iHeartRadio stations across the country, which announced Wednesday that P6+ has reached 2 million listeners, a +9% increase over last year.
Primetime’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026” was the No. 1 show across television in total interactions and video views on New Year’s Eve, according to Talkwalker Social Content Ratings. Also, according to Listen First, DJ Cassidy will be performing Busta Rhymes’ “Look At Me Now” as part of Pass The Mic Live!. It became the most viewed clip on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook that day.
Highlights of the show included “I’m Coming Out,” “The Boss,” “Upside Down,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Tomorrow” sung by Diana Ross. Other guests included Ciara, Little Big Town, Maren Morris, and LE SSERAFIM.
The entire event reached an average total of 34 million viewers per night, but the out-of-home audience has yet to increase.
Variety’s parent company, PMC, owns Dick Clark Prods. In a joint venture with Eldridge.
