‘High Potential,’ ‘Tracker’ Ruled 2025 According to Nielsen Multiplatform Ratings, While Teens Love ‘The Rookie’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Is Tops With Kids

For broadcast TV, 2025 was the year that the narrative swung back their way — and we have “High Potential” and “Tracker” in particular to thank for that. Both shows continue to dominate with viewership when multiplatform numbers — linear, timeshifted and streaming — are tallied, putting those shows (and several others in the broadcast realm) higher, in many cases, than their competitors from the streaming-only world.

Per ratings from both ABC and CBS, “High Potential” and “Tracker” are virtually tied as the most-watched entertainment series (when sports and news aren’t included) on broadcast in the 2025 calendar year (which means the second half of the 2024-2025 TV season, and the first half of the 2025-2026 season). Both networks are using slightly different methodologies to get to their tallies, but the two shows are within spitting distance of each other, averaging around 16.5 million viewers depending on how many episodes are included in the mix.

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According to ABC and confirmed by Nielsen, when looking at linear+streaming content ratings data based on 35 days of viewing — and excluding episodes missing full Nielsen streaming data capture — the 12 episodes of “High Potential” that aired during the time frame of ABC’s report averaged 8.6 million viewers in linear, and another 7.9 million in streaming — adding up to 16.5 million. That made “High Potential” No. 1 for the calendar year. Meanwhile, 14 episodes of “Tracker” averaged 11 million in linear and 5.4 million in streaming, adding to 16.4 million viewers total, putting it close behind.

Meanwhile, CBS’ multiplatform 35-day ranker has 15 episodes of “Tracker” topping out at 16.5 million, edging out 13 episodes of “High Potential,” which added up to 16.4 million.

ABC’s analysis of Nielsen data shows CBS with four of the top five shows (“Tracker,” “Matlock,” “Ghosts” and “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage”) in total viewers, but isn’t able to include newcomers “Boston Blue” and “Sheriff Country,” as Nielsen’s streaming data capture is missing viewership information for those series’ first few episodes.

Among the other shows reaching more than 10 million viewers this year, ABC had thriving players in “Will Trent,” “The Rookie,” “Shifting Gears” and “9-1-1,” while CBS’ “Elsbeth” also made the cut.

The difference between linear and streaming is more stark when it comes to demographic charts. Among adults 18-49, ABC has “High Potential” in the top spot with a 3.77 rating. In that tally, the initial linear rating is just 0.75 — and then the streaming rating adds a whopping 3.02 to that final number.

ABC held seven of the top 10 shows in adults 18-49 — besides “High Potential,” that included “Abbott Elementary” (3.22 rating), “The Rookie” (2.54 rating), “Dancing With the Stars” (2.28 rating), “Shifting Gears” (2.16 rating), “9-1-1” (2.15 rating) and “9-1-1: Nashville” (1.82 rating). Also in the top 10 were CBS’ “Ghosts” (2.07 rating) and “Tracker” (2.01 rating), and Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers” (1.73 rating).

In other demos, perhaps the most surprising is the power of ABC’s “The Rookie” with teens. A procedural that perhaps wouldn’t seem to be geared toward the 12-17 crowd, the show was No. 1 for the year with the Gen Z crowd thanks to streaming. Other teen faves included “High Potential,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “Ghosts.” ABC had six of the top 10 shows with teens, but CBS had three — not bad for a network that is seen as traditionally old-skewing, and a reminder again that streaming has helped put more young eyeballs back on broadcast fare.

With adults 18-34, ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” was tops, while “Dancing With the Stars” led with kids 2-11. Interestingly, drama procedurals “High Potential,” “Rookie” and “Tracker” were also top 5 with kids.

As ABC shared its 2025 highlights, the network emphasized the resurgence of “Dancing With the Stars,” which ended its Season 34 with 9.43 million viewers for its finale — its largest season ender since 2016 — and a 2.06 rating for the finale with adults 18-49, its best since 2015. “DWTS” also became the first fall show to see its ratings increase for six consecutive weeks following a season premiere in the Nielsen electronic measurement era.

Among other Alphabet net highlights, “Will Trent” grew its total viewer audience in live+7 ratings for the third year in a row, the only drama to do so; and according to ABC, “Grey’s Anatomy” logged more than 38 billion minutes this year, making it the most-streaming drama on TV.

Here are calendar year 2025 Nielsen multiplatform+35 ratings charts, which include the live+35 day big data plus panel and streaming content ratings. (A few caveats to keep in mind: CBS’ fall launched late, so only a handful of episodes are in the ABC charts — and shows missing streaming info like “Boston Blue” and “Sheriff Country” aren’t included. CBS’ ranker includes episodes missing streaming info, but that means the averages may be skewed for shows like “The Rookie”)