‘The Rookie’ Scores Season High Ratings With ‘Speed’ Episode

ABC’s The Rookie drew its largest audience of the season — in several seasons, in fact — with its March 25 episode.

The drama hit season highs in both total viewers (8.25 million) and adults 18-49 (1.67 rating, equivalent to about 2.24 million people in that demographic) with three days of cross-platform viewing. About 43 percent of the total audience (3.57 million viewers), and more than 70 percent of the show’s 18-49 rating (1.19), came via streaming.

The 8.25 million viewers were the most for The Rookie after three days since January 2023, midway through the show’s fifth season. The 18-49 rating was the show’s best since the penultimate episode of season two in May 2020.

The March 25 episode, titled “Speed,” found John (Nathan Fillion) and Celina (Lisseth Chavez) in a hostage situation while Tim (Eric Winter) challenged Lucy’s (Melissa O’Neil) decision-making.

The season highs for The Rookie continued ABC’s strong showing on Tuesday nights this season, where the network has grown considerably compared to the 2023-24 season. Led by first-year breakout High Potential, all three of the network’s dramas on the night are averaging more than 10 million viewers after five weeks of multi-platform viewing. High Potential comes in at 15.31 million viewers, The Rookie at 11.35 million and Will Trent at 10.91 million. Dancing With the Stars also had a solid run on Tuesdays last fall, improving year to year and ending with its most-watched finale since November 2019.

The Rookie has also improved its linear ratings since moving to the 9 p.m. ET/PT spot in mid-February; it’s averaging 3.34 million same-day viewers over five episodes since the move, up 11 percent from its 10 p.m. average earlier in the season.