The Season 28 premiere of “The Bachelor” has hit a three-year ratings high in delayed viewing, TheWrap can reveal exclusively.

After 35 days of viewing across ABC, Hulu and other digital platforms, the first episode of Joey Graziadei’s season tallied up 7.70 million total viewers and a 2.82 rating in the key broadcast demo among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen live-plus-35-day figures and internal viewing data.

The opener marks the show’s strongest multiplatform performance in both total viewers and in the demo in nearly three years, since the finale of Matt James’ season on March 15, 2021.

The Jan. 22 episode initially debuted to an audience of 3.18 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures, which eventually soared by 89% within a week of multiplatform viewing to reach 6.02 million viewers. After over a month of viewing, the opener picked up an additional 4.52 million total viewers — marking the show’s biggest multiplatform lift in three years.

Likewise, delayed ratings for the premiere saw a whopping 432% uptick from the initial live-plus-same-day rating of 0.53, marking the show’s largest delayed-viewing increase to date. The opener grew even more within the first month of its release, after it rose to a multiplatform rating of 1.69 within a week of viewing, which marked a 219% raise from the initial live-plus-same-day rating.

“The Bachelor” Season 28 premiere saw a 17% uptick in total viewers when compared to last year’s premiere of Zach Shallcross’ season, which brought in 6.56 million total viewers within the same time frame. Ratings for the Jan. 22 premiere were similarly up 18% from the debut of Shallcross’ season, which debuted to a 2.39 rating.

Overall, the launch of Graziadei’s season garnered the show’s strongest multiplatform opener since the debut of James’ season on Jan. 4, 2021.

“The Bachelor,” which is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon, is gearing up to debut its buzzy “Women Tell All” episode next week before airing the finale of Graziadei’s journey on March 25.

“The Bachelor” premieres Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Millie Bobby Brown’s “Damsel” just slayed Netflix’s Top 10 films list. The new action fantasy starring the “Stranger Things” actress debuted at the top of the streamer’s English films list with 35.3 million views, the most viewed title of the week.

The film, which also stars Robin Wright and Angela Bassett, debuted at No. 1 in 79 countries and reached the Top 10 in 93 others. Action thriller “Code 8: Part II” kept rising with 11.9 million views to take the No. 2 spot, while its prequel, “Code 8,” landed at No. 4 with 5.7 million views. Johan Renck’s drama “Spaceman,” starring Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan, held onto No. 3 with 10.8 million views and Tyler Perry’s “Mea Culpa,” the steamy thriller starring Kelly Rowland, ranked No. 5 with 5.1 million views.

“The Gentlemen,” Guy Ritchie’s television adaptation (of his own film) starring Theo James and Kaya Scodelario, also posed a big debut atop the English TV List, with 12.2 million views.

The streamer’s adaptation of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” held onto second place on the English TV List with 9.1 million views. The series was recently renewed for two more seasons. Docuseries “The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping” entered the list in third place with 7.1 million views, and the popular “American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders” landed in seventh place with 2.4 million views. Season 6 of “Love is Blind” spent its fourth week on the list landing at No. 5 with 3.4 million views, and “One Day,” the limited series adapted from David Nicholls’ bestselling romance novel, followed in sixth place in its fifth week on the list with 3.1 million views.

France’s “Furies” landed at No. 1 in the Non-English TV list this week with 7.1 million views. The German mystery drama “The Signal” got second place with 4.9 million views and Italian drama “Supersex” snagged third with 3.2 millions views. Spain’s “Wrong Side of the Tracks” took spots with its three seasons (Season 3 in fourth place with 2.3 million views; Season 1 at No. 9 with 1 million and Season 2 on 10th place with 0.9 million views).

On the Non-English film side, Korean drama “My Name Is Loh” rose to first place with 5.1 million views. And Spanish films dominated with romance “Through My Window 3: Look at You” claiming second place with 2.5 million views; documentary “You’re Not Alone: Fighting the Wold Pack” debuting at No. 3 with 2.3 million views; and J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow” landing at No. 7 with 1.7 million views after its presence in Sunday’s Academy Awards.

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Hollywood’s biggest night scored 19.5 million total viewers Sunday night on ABC, according to Nielsen fast national live and same day data.

The telecast of the 96th Academy Awards marked a four-year high in total viewers, including a 4% increase compared to the 18.8 million who tuned into the Sunday night telecast in 2023. Last year’s broadcast saw a 13% uptick in total viewership compared to the 16.7 million viewers the awards show nabbed in 2022. This year’s show also nabbed a 3.81 rating among adults 18-49.

The 2024 Oscars started an hour earlier than previous telecasts at 4 p.m. ET/7 p.m. ET — a tactic to keep East Coast audiences up through the end of the ceremony, which Oscars showrunner and EP Raj Kapoor told TheWrap would be be “beneficial” given audience’s shifting lifestyles.

The ceremony closed out the 2024 awards seasons, which has mostly trended upwards when it comes to ratings, with viewership for the Golden Globes up a whopping 50% from last year, and Grammys ratings seeing a 34% uptick from the previous ceremony. The Emmys, on the other hand, hit a record ratings low and saw a 27% decline in viewership.

Christopher Nolan’s dramatic epic about the invention of the atomic bomb “Oppenheimer” was the big winner of the evening. Out of the 13 nominations the movie received, “Oppenheimer” won seven of them including wins for Best Picture, Nolan for Best Director, Cillian Murphy for Best Actor, Robert Downey Jr. for Best Supporting Actor, Ludwig Göransson for Best Score, Hoyte van Hoytema for Best Cinematography and Jennifer Lame for Best Film Editing. The Yorgos Lanthimos-directed “Poor Things” also walked away with for wins, including Emma Stone for Best Actress. Additionally, Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest” took home two Oscars: Best International Feature Film and Best Sound for Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn.

The evening also saw some records being set. Thanks to her win for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” Billie Eilish and Finneas became the youngest two-time Oscar winners in the history of the awards show. Additionally, Robert Downey Jr. became the first “Saturday Night Live” cast member to win an Oscar, and “Godzilla Minus One,” which took home Best Visual Effects, marked the first Oscar nomination and win for a “Godzilla” movie.

ABC’s critically-acclaimed comedy “Abbott Elementary” also won gold on Oscar night, with a special episode that debuted immediately after the ceremony scoring series highs in total viewers (6.9 million) and in the 18-49 demo ratings (1.42).

The special installment, which featured a special appearance by Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper, delivered the highest-rated telecast for any sitcom on any network in nearly four years among adults 18-49.

“Abbott Elementary” returns to its regular timeslot Wednesday, March 13, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday brought in 32.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

The figure marks an 18% increase from last year’s 27.3 million viewers and the second-largest audience since the 38.2 million viewers who watched his first address to a Joint Session of Congress in 2021. (A president’s first address to a joint session isn’t considered an official State of the Union, as it’s customary to wait a full year into a term before the president is officially in a position to report on the state of the nation.)

The figure takes into account viewership across 14 networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, PBS, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax and NewsNation.

Nielsen said 5% of the total was comprised of viewers who were 18-34, compared to 19% aged 35-54 and 74% aged 55 and older. Viewers were split between 56% who watched the coverage on broadcast networks, while 44% watched on cable.

On broadcast TV, ABC’s telecast of the “State of the Union” brought in the largest audience among the major broadcasters with 5.24 million total viewers, ahead of NBC’s audience of 4.47 million viewers. CBS came next with 4.09 million viewers, while Fox had the smallest audience among the big four broadcasters with 1.77 million viewers.

NBC, on the other hand, scored the highest ratings for the event among adults 18-49, with a 0.69 rating among the key broadcast demo, narrowly beating the 0.68 rating brought in by ABC. CBS similarly scored the third highest rating with a 0.49 rating, with Fox following in last place with a 0.30 rating.

During the speech, Biden zeroed in on the economy, the war in Ukraine and the border. He also pledged to “restore” Roe v. Wade. 

Nielsen’s measurement was from the timeframe of approximately 9:26 p.m. to 10:33 p.m. ET. 

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The premiere episode of “Shogun” drew 9 million views globally across Hulu, Disney+ and Star+ in its first six days of streaming.

Domestically, the FX limited series is the channel’s No. 1 premiere on Hulu, just ahead of “The Bear” Season 2, boosted by viewership from Hulu on Disney+. Internationally, the show is No. 1 across all general entertainment series releases, ahead of “The Kardashians” Season 1.

Disney defines a view as total stream time divided by runtime.

“Shogun,” an epic saga of war, passion, and power set in feudal Japan, is based on James Clavell’s bestselling novel. The series is created for television by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, with Marks serving as showrunner and executive producer alongside Michaela Clavell, Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, and Kondo.

The show stars Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko, Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige, Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi, Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari, Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji, Tokuma Nishioka as Toda Hiromatsu, Shinnosuke Abe as Buntaro, Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado, Yuka Kouri as Kiku, and Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba no Kata.

The first three episodes of “Shōgun” are now streaming, with new episodes released every Tuesday through April 23. The next episode, “The Eightfold Fence,” will begin streaming Tuesday, March 12, on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ and Disney+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories and will air at 10 pm ET/PT on FX.

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More than seven months after its theatrical release, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is continuing its run as one of the most successful biopics of all time, with Nielsen reporting that the film recorded 821 million minutes of viewing during its first week of streaming on Peacock.

The new numbers come after Peacock previously announced that “Oppenheimer” became the most-watched film in the history of the NBCUniversal streaming service during its first weekend of release on Feb. 16, adding to the biopic record $954 million grossed at the global box office and its strong performance on premium video on-demand and Blu-Ray. The platform also boasted that “Oppenheimer” was the most-watched film across all streaming during the period of Feb. 16-22 based on reach and hours viewed, citing Nielsen data.

Looking to take advantage of interest in “Oppenheimer” ahead of the Academy Awards, where the film is a frontrunner to win Best Picture, Peacock released “Oppenheimer” last month with a series of featurettes about the making of the film.

The platform also offers Nolan films like “Inception,” “Interstellar,” and the “Dark Knight” trilogy.

The move to release “Oppenheimer” on streaming more than six months after its theatrical release came at the behest of Nolan, as part of his deal to bring the film to Universal after nearly 20 years of releasing his films with Warner Bros.

Nolan has used his clout as a filmmaker to maximize the theatrical windows of his films, requiring that Universal invest $200 million in production and marketing for the film and pushing for three weeks of exclusive play on Imax, with select theaters screening the film in 70mm.

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Streaming viewership for the most recent episode of “Abbott Elementary” set a new ratings record for the ABC sitcom, TheWrap can reveal exclusively.

Within three days of its launch, “Abbott Elementary” Season 3 Episode 5 has tallied scored a 1.72 rating in the key broadcast demo among adults 18-49 across ABC, Hulu and other digital platforms, according to Nielsen live-plus-three-day multiplatform viewing figures. That’s up a whopping 421% from the installment’s initial live-plus-same-day rating of 0.33 on ABC alone.

The nearly five times growth marks the Quinta Brunson-created show’s biggest multiplatform delayed-viewing lift in the 18-49 demo to date.

In addition to hitting a new ratings record, the fifth episode also brought in 5.46 million viewers across platforms within three days of viewing — up %134.3 from the initial live-plus-same-day audience of 2.33 million viewers on ABC.

The fifth episode of the season also saw ratings and viewership growth for the second week in a row when compared to three-day multiplatform figures for the previous week’s installment. Total viewership grew 3% when compared to last week’s audience of 5.29 million, as did this week’s ratings, which saw a 3% improvement from last episode’s rating of 1.67.

The delayed figures boosted “Abbott Elementary” to score the show’s strongest multiplatform telecast since its Season 3 premiere on Feb. 7, which drew in 5.91 million total viewers and a 1.84 rating, according to Nielsen live-plus-three-day and internal viewing data.

Within three days of viewing on ABC alone, the Feb. 28 episode of “Abbott Elementary” scored 3.36 million viewers — up 6% from last week’s three-day audience of 3.18 — and locked down a 0.56 rating — up 10% from last week’s rating of 0.51.

“Abbott Elementary” is gearing up to release a special post-Oscars episode on Sunday, March 10, which will likely see a ratings boost due to its award show lead-in. The 96th Oscars are set to kick off at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC, with “Abbott Elementary” airing immediately following their conclusion.

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One episode in and “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” is already setting records for AMC and AMC+.

The zombie drama spin-off, which follows the characters of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira), delivered 3 million viewers during its premiere week, according to Nielsen Live +3 ratings. These premiere ratings are the biggest AMC has seen for a new show in six years. The previous series to hold that record was 2018’s “The Terror,” which had a new episode of “The Walking Dead” as a lead-in.

Last Sunday’s episode also made AMC+ history when it came to direct-to-consumer sign-ups. Additionally, the first episode of “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” is the most-watched episode of any show on the platform. Though AMC didn’t give any specific numbers, the two-day viewership total for the premiere has already outpaced the first week of viewership for any season premiere on the platform.

The latest “Walking Dead” spin-off also had an impact on social with #TheOnesWhoLive trending as the No. 1 topic on X in the United States Sunday night.

“On Sunday, we had an incredible reunion of ‘TWD’ giants: Rick and Michonne — and the fans of ‘The Walking Dead,’ both old and new,” chief content officer behind “The Walking Dead” universe and executive producer of the new series Scott M. Gimple said in a press release. “Danai and Andy’s mind-blowing work in front of and behind the camera, along with the efforts of a truly wonderful cast and crew was all for an audience we asked to believe just a little bit longer. We’re grateful they did.”

“What a start for ‘The Ones Who Live,’ the biggest episode of television in the history of AMC+ for both viewership and customer acquisition, the top cable drama of the current TV season in key demos and our biggest AMC series premiere in six years,” Dan McDermott, president of entertainment for AMC Studios for AMC Networks, said in a press release. “This is a show the world, and particularly the incredibly passionate and engaged fans of this universe, have been waiting for and essentially willed into existence. Thanks to Danai, Andy and Scott for everything it took to get here and all that is yet to come. We can’t wait to share the rest of this incredible season with the fans over the next five weeks.”

The latest series in the “Walking Dead” universe is described as an “epic love story of two characters changed by a changed world” who are kept apart by distance, an unstoppable power and the ghosts of who they were.

In addition to Lincoln and Gurira, “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” stars Pollyanna McIntosh, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Terry O’Quinn, Matthew August Jeffers, Craig Tate, Breeda Wool and Andrew Bachelor. The series is executive produced by showrunner Scott M. Gimple, Lincoln, Gurira, Denise Huth, Brian Bockrath and Greg Nicotero.

New episodes air on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

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Last week’s back-to-back premieres of “Will Trent, “The Rookie” and “The Good Doctor” scored impressive ratings growth for ABC’s Tuesday drama lineup.

The Season 2 launch of “Will Trent” led the Feb. 20 premieres at 8 p.m. and scored 7.68 million viewers and a 0.80 rating in the key broadcast demo among adults 18-49 across ABC, Hulu and digital platforms, according to Nielsen live-plus-three-day viewing figures and internal data.

In addition to scoring the show’s strongest multiplatform viewership to date, viewership for the premiere grew 5% from the series debut, which brought in 7.34 million viewers, and was up 18% from its freshman season average of 6.50 million viewers. After three days of multiplatform viewing, total viewership for “Will Trent” saw a 61% uptick from its initial live-plus-same-day viewership of 4.77, and grew 142% from its initial rating of 0.33.

After debuting its first season in the 10 p.m. slot, “Will Trent” was moved up to lead primetime, and is now followed at 9 p.m. by “The Rookie,” whose Season 6 premiere ranked as the show’s strongest multiplatform premiere since its Season 2 launch in September 2019.

Led by Nathan Fillion and Melissa O’Neil, “The Rookie” debuted to a total multiplatform three-day viewership of 7.93 million — up 9% from its last season premiere — and scored a rating of 1.52 in the key demo — up 29% from the last season premiere.

Shifting “Will Trent” up to 8 p.m. marks a commitment to the Ramon Rodriguez-led series following its strong Season 1 debut, according to Ari Goldman, ABC’s SVP of content strategy and scheduling.

“We felt we could build a night around that engine at 9 p.m. and give the eight o’clock opportunity for ‘Will Trent’ to strengthen the night as a whole,” Goldman told TheWrap.

“Ramon is amazing and as you look at the cast as a whole, we were finding that you could treat this as a true ensemble and get so many stories from our characters,” added Simran Sethi, ABC and Freeform EVP of programming and content strategy. “We really believe in this show and the team behind it creatively and wanted to invest in it.”

The investment into “Will Trent” can also be seen in rebroadcasts on ABC, with its Season 2 premiere scoring an audience of 9.20 million total viewers when combining its Feb. 20 launch and subsequent Feb. 22 rebroadcast.

Not only did moving up “Will Trent” score a success for ABC as the premiere episode scored the show’s most-watched linear telecast with 6.66 million total viewers, the show continued to engage streaming audiences as well, with “Will Trent” hitting a series viewership high on Hulu the day after its Season 2 premiere.

“We want to create the best possible live experience for the ABC linear viewer, and then we have the opportunity to engage even more viewers on Hulu, and that’s a win win for us and our audience,” Goldman said.

Streaming viewership for the launch of “The Rookie” also posted impressive gains, with the Season 6 premiere ranking as the series’ most-streamed episode ever on Hulu within its first three days of viewing.

The final season of “The Good Doctor” followed “The Rookie” in the 10 p.m. timeslot, and scored a 5.74 million total viewers and 0.79 rating in the key demo, per live-plus-three-day multiplatform data.

The three-day multiplatform viewership nearly doubled the premiere’s initial live-plus-same-day viewership 2.86 million, with its initial rating of 0.26 shooting up by 204%.

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The 2024 SAG Awards failed to crack into Netflix’s most-watched TV programs for the week.

Saturday’s live stream of the awards show did not rank within the 10 most-watched TV shows during the week of Feb. 19, positioning itself at a lower viewership than standalone comedy special “Mike Epps: Ready to Sell Out,” which ranked as the seventh most-watched show of the week with 3 million views.

The 10th spot on the English TV list is occupied by “The Tourist” Season 1, which brought in 2.1 million views, meaning the SAG Awards failed to outpace that viewership of 2.1 million. Since Netflix only releases exact viewing figures for programs, viewership data for the SAG Awards will likely remain unknown until the streamer releases its data transparency report for the first half of 2024.

Notably, the 30th annual awards show did rank within the top 10 most-watched TV series for the week in one country — Canada. The SAG Awards ranked as the ninth most-watched TV program of the week in Canada, exceeding viewership for “American Nightmare” Season 1, which ranked in the No. 10 spot.

The SAG Awards live stream expands Netflix’s live event programming, which the streamer first kicked off with “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” in early March 2023, which debuted to an impressive 17.79 million hours viewed.

Elsewhere on the TV list, the week’s standout was by far “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which tallied 21.2 million views in the four days since its Feb. 22 release. The live-action adaptation, which also reached the top 10 list in 92 countries, outpaced viewership for “One Day” and “Love Is Blind” Season 6, which both scored 7.5 million views, as well as “Can I Tell You A Secret?,” which brought in 6.5 million views.

Viewership for Syfy’s “Resident Alien” continued to grow to 2.2 million views amid the Season 3 launch on Feb. 21, this time ranking in the No. 9 spot.

On the film front, Tyler Perry’s “Mea Culpa” debuted as the most-watched English film with 16 million views, exceeding the 7.4 million views brought in by “Players,” which stars Gina Rodriguez and Damon Wayans Jr.

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