{"id":13117,"date":"2026-07-22T02:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13117"},"modified":"2026-07-22T02:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:10:54","slug":"the-next-pro-sets-abc-summer-ratings-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13117","title":{"rendered":"The Next Pro Sets ABC Summer Ratings Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<strong>EXCLUSIVE: <\/strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/dancing-with-the-stars\/\" id=\"auto-tag_dancing-with-the-stars\" data-tag=\"dancing-with-the-stars\">Dancing with the Stars<\/a>: The Next Pro<\/em> is proving to be a fierce new addition to the summer television lineup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe new series, which chronicles the search for the franchise\u2019s next professional ballroom dancer ahead of <em>Dancing with the Stars<\/em> Season 35, debuted to a total audience of 5.33M after three days of viewing across <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/abc\/\" id=\"auto-tag_abc\" data-tag=\"abc\">ABC<\/a>, Disney+, Hulu and digital\u00a0platforms, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel. The episode also scored a 0.86 rating among adults 18-49.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tFor context, the premiere audience for Season 34 of <em>Dancing with the Stars <\/em>last fall was 5.5M live + same-day viewers, and <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2025\/11\/dancing-with-the-stars-season-34-finale-ratings-1236629921\/\">the series approached 10M L+SD viewers by the finale<\/a>. It was the highest-rated and most-watched <em>DWTS <\/em>finale in nine years, thanks to the franchise\u2019s stunning resurgence over the last two years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe launch of <em>The Next Pro<\/em> is the first major expansion of the\u00a0<em>DWTS<\/em>\u00a0since it premiered in 2005. Over the years, the series has gone through dozens of pro dancers,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/gallery\/dancing-with-the-stars-anniversary-deadline-portrait-studio\/\">many of whom returned for last season\u2019s 20th anniversary celebration<\/a>. The early success of <em>The Next Pro <\/em>bodes quite well for the upcoming season of the flagship series, indicating that its latest cultural resonance is poised to continue. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tPer Nielsen, <em>The Next Pro<\/em>, hosted by <em>DWTS <\/em>Season 34 champ Robert Irwin, is ABC\u2019s strongest summer series debut across all genres since July 2020. On linear alone, the episode was the top program of the night both in total viewers with 4.42M and in the 18-49 demo with a 0.47 rating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tCurrently, it stands as the\u00a0best alternative series premiere this television season across broadcast and cable\u00a0excluding those lucky enough to get NFL\u00a0lead-ins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/dancing-with-the-stars-the-next-pro\/\" id=\"auto-tag_dancing-with-the-stars-the-next-pro\" data-tag=\"dancing-with-the-stars-the-next-pro\">Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro<\/a><\/em> is produced by BBC Studios. The series airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC and streaming next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Next week, the remaining dancers face one of the toughest <em>Dancing with the Stars<\/em> challenges: a group performance. Mentored by Britt Stewart, they must master a high-intensity routine in just hours, putting teamwork, timing and resilience to the test.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXCLUSIVE: Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro is proving to be a fierce new addition to the summer television lineup. The new series, which chronicles the search for the franchise\u2019s next professional ballroom dancer ahead of Dancing with the Stars Season 35, debuted to a total audience of 5.33M after three days of viewing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/181454_0707.jpg?w=1000","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}