Ratings: Ryan Seacrest's Rockin' Eve Hits All-Time Highs, Fox's Steve Harvey a Big Improvement Over Pitbull

ABC’s Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest on Sunday night drew 15.7 million total viewers and a 5.0 demo rating during the 10 o’clock hour, surging 35 and 30 percent from last year to mark the program’s best numbers in that time slot since debuting (with a Seacrestified title) in 2000.

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From 8 to 10 pm, DCPNYREWRS averaged 10.5 million and a 3.1, up some 60 percent from last year and besting Fox head-to-head by 81 and 72 percent.

Update: During its ball-dropping stretch (11:30pm to 12;31 am), the audience grew to 25.6 million viewers (with an 8.2 rating), marking the special’s biggest audience in at least 27 years (predating the start of Nielsen’s electronic database in September 1991).

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Fox this year handed the reins to Steve Harvey, who from 8 to 10 pm averaged 5.8 million total viewers and a 1.8 rating. That doubled the demo delivery of Pitbull’s most recent NYE hosting (December 2015) while improving the audience by 123 percent. (Last year, Fox during primetime aired drama series repeats, which did 1.4 mil and a 0.3).

Update: Fox’s midnight run (from 11 pm to 12:19 am) drew 8.5 million viewers (a network high for a NYE special) with a 2.9 rating (marking a 17-year high). Versus Pitbull’s year-ago ringing in of the new year, Harvey was up 98 and 71 percent.

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