Photo Credit: Wiebke Meyer-Lüters
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest led all TV programs on New Year’s Eve 2025. The show drew in an average of 18.8 million total viewers during the 11:30 pm – 12:30 am ET time slot.
ABC aired the special from Times Square in New York City, with this year’s viewership marking a four-year high for the program. The new year celebration variety show rose 5% from 17.9 million the year before. Meanwhile, ABC reported 30 million viewers at midnight. The full broadcast reached 34 million total viewers across the night, though out of home viewing data is pending.
The special beat out rivals by wide margins. It topped CBS’s New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash by more than 255% in the key hour. That CBS side-show celebration attracted around 5.3 million viewers. Diana Ross headlined the 2025 edition of the show, with other acts including Lara Lar, Pitbull, Chappell Roan, and Mariah Carey.
Other performances included the singing voices of HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters, EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI. Le Sserafim, Lil John, Madison Beer, Maren Morris, New Kids on the Block, OneRepublic, Post Malone, The All-American Rejects, 4 Non Blondes, Charlie Puth, and Ciara all took the stage.
While Ryan Seacrest hosted the main event in New York, Chance the Rapper hosted a separate celebration in Chicago. Meanwhile, Rob Gronkowski and Julianne Hough hosted a special broadcast live from Las Vegas. Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve dates back to the 1970s.
Meanwhile, iHeartMedia’s audio broadcast of the celebration hit two million listeners across 150 stations—up 9% compared to last year. More people watched the show this year than last year, the midnight viewership only peaked at 29 million viewers in 2024.
While viewership is up, it’s worth nothing that watching the show with streaming media only was a struggle. The show was only live on ABC or on platforms that carry the channel. Fans who wanted to catch up on the festivities could watch the live stream the next day on Hulu.
