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when Rising Airing in its regular timeslot on ABC, the show is watched live by approximately 350,000 to 375,000 people between the ages of 18 and 49. That’s in line with most other network dramas this season, but it’s not by much — 10 years ago, a show attracting this level of viewers in a key ad sales demographic probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a month.
Rising It is in its eighth season, however, and is a very strong bet to earn a ninth season thanks to all the people who watched the show after its initial airing. Among the top 20 network series in the Nielsen ratings this season, the Nathan Fillion-led drama attracts a larger seven-day audience following its first broadcast than any other show.
The way streaming has changed how people watch TV has been well documented (I’ve done a fair amount of it), but especially among younger viewers, the difference between same-day and later viewing is jarring. On average, the top 20 entertainment programs as of February 8 (not including sports and news) receive more than two-thirds more ratings in adults ages 18-49 after their initial broadcast. Eighteen of the 20 at least doubled their same-day rating over the course of a week, and 11 of them more than tripled.
At the top of the profit percentage list is Risingwhich goes from a rating of 0.27 to 1.97 – an increase of more than seven times. The vast majority of that comes from live streaming. After seven days of DVR playback, the 18-49 show’s rating is 0.52. The remaining 1.45 rating points (equivalent to just under 2 million people) come via Hulu and Disney+. (The show’s library also has a large number of views, with 22.81 billion minutes of viewing time in 2025.)
The gains for all viewers are not very large, but they are still significant. On average, the top 20 shows receive about 44 percent of total viewers for seven days after their first broadcast. CBS Tracker It still leads as of February 8 with 14.07 million viewers – although if the new lead, Marshalscontinues his first performance, Tracker It may not retain its crown as the most-watched non-sports series. High potential (12.67 million viewers), Matlock (9.83 million), Will Trent (9.58 million) and Rising (9.19 million) rounded out the top five.
The network’s viewership has certainly declined over the past decade. In the 2015-2016 season, Tracker and High potential It would have finished sixth and 14th among total viewers, and there were 30 shows with better ratings in adults 18-49 than High potentialQ 2.36. But streaming usurped the use of digital video recorders (DVRs) as a means of watching television after the fact, and is now the path to large audiences for network shows.
Here are the top 20 network series as of February 8 in Nielsen’s seven-day multiplatform rankings. Sports and news are excluded.
