ABC, Ryan Seacrest, and the ghost of Dick Clark ruled the roost on late-night TV this New Year’s Eve, despite lower ratings for most major outlets airing special New Year’s programming.
ABC’s traditional broadcast from Times Square, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 drew more total viewers than all of its major competitors combined, with an average audience of 17.9 million tuning in during the hour beginning at 11:30pm. That’s down 3.5% vs the same time period last year.
CBS came in second with New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash, which aired on the network for the fourth time and featured live countdowns from Times Square for the eastern time zone, and Nashville for the central time zone. The program drew an average 7.03 million total viewers at the 11:30 pm ET hour (-16.5% vs last year), and 6.15 million an hour later when the music note dropped in Nashville (-15% year over year).
NBC, which aired a pre-recorded special, The Day Drinking with Seth Meyers New Year’s Special, came in third, drawing an average 1.48 million total viewers. In some markets, the show cut away for local coverage of New Year’s Eve countdowns for three minutes beginning at 11:58pm; in other markets the show featured an in-studio countdown of its own that saw Meyers joined by writer/performers Amber Ruffin and John Lutz.
This was the first year NBC handed over its New Year’s hour to Meyers. In 2021-22 and 2022-23, the network aired the Lorne Michaels-produced Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party. New Year’s Eve 2023-24 fell on a Sunday, so the network was committed to Sunday Night Football, which ended at 11:35pm ET, leaving most NBC stations to air local programming as the clock struck midnight.
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, who celebrated their tenth-year co-anchoring CNN’s Times Square ball drop coverage, took the top prize on cable, drawing an average 3.43 million total viewers during the 11:30pm ET hour, a decline of 9% vs the same period a year ago.
Fox News aired an hour-long countdown show of its own, Jimmy Failla’s All-American New Year’s Bash, which drew an average 1,041,000 total viewers in its 11:30-12:00 half hour, up 5.5% over last year’s A New Year With Tyrus, earning the news network the distinction of being the only major outlet to post year-over-year gains with its New Year’s Eve programming this year.
Ratings charts for the 11:30 pm ET hour follow below :
Live+ Same Day Ratings — All Viewers (P2+)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Year | |
| Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 (ABC) | 33.89 | 17,920 | -3.5% |
| New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash (CBS) | 13.33 | 7,025 | -16.2% |
| The Day Drinking with Seth Meyers New Year’s Special (NBC) | 2.89 | 1,484 | — |
| New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen (CNN) | 6.16 | 3,425 | -9% |
| Jimmy Failla’s All-American New Year’s Bash (Fox News)* | 1.83 | 1,041 | +5.5% |
*Ended at midnight. Rating for 11:30pm ET-12:00am ET period only.
Live+ Same Day Ratings — In the Demo (P18-49)
| Avg Share (%) | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Vs Last Year | |
| Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 (ABC) | 40.74 | 6,381 | -11.6% |
| New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash (CBS) | 13.65 | 2,129 | -16.8% |
| The Day Drinking with Seth Meyers New Year’s Special (NBC) | 2.39 | 363 | — |
| New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen (CNN) | 7.26 | 1,167 | -9.1% |
| Jimmy Failla’s All-American New Year’s Bash (Fox News)* | .65 | 103 | +9.6% |
*Ended at midnight. Rating for 11:30pm ET-12:00am ET period only.
Ratings data copyright The Nielsen Company, used under license.
I love this website! Bill has always delivered the “goods” as it pertains to the machinations of Late Night Television.
If more performers were like Ryan Seacrest, Broadcast Television would be much better. He never shares his personal Politics and respects his audience. Look at the results. Ryan Rocks!
Andy Cohen looks and acts like a Queen. I am one. LOL. But not like her. Anderson Cooper will be canceled next. $20 million per year. His show does not attract one million viewers.
There are too many women on television versus white men. In fact, white men have been completely cut out of television and radio commercials. Television was better when networks were run by men with experience, respect, and vision.