A PR expert has told Newsweek the strategies that Dancing With the Stars has implemented to keep the show so popular, 33 seasons later.
This year, celebrities competing for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy include The Dark Knight and Runaway Train actor Eric Roberts paired with Britt Stewart; Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks competing with pro Val Chmerkovskiy; Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher dancing with Alan Bersten; and many more.
Among the first people eliminated this season were Beverly Hills, 90210 actor Tori Spelling with her partner Pasha Pashkov; and convicted con artist Anna Delvey and dancing pro Ezra Sosa.
Jenna Guarneri is founder and CEO of JMG Public Relations and author of You Need PR: An Approachable Guide to Public Relations for Early-Stage Companies. She told Newsweek that Dancing With the Stars has found a variety of ways to remain popular after so many years. However, the core tactic is to pick celebrities who are a part of the current cultural zeitgeist and will have people talking.
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for ABC, which airs Dancing With the Stars, for comment on Tuesday outside of normal business hours.
"The show has found a way to remain so popular for so long for a number of reasons. One being that it engages with audience members of all different age ranges by casting celebrities from all different generations," Guarneri said.
"Chandler Kinney—a young Disney Channel and teen drama actress—targets a new generation of viewers, while more seasoned stars such as Reginald VelJohnson from Family Matters, create a sense of nostalgia for more mature audiences. The Dancing With the Stars casting also targets celebrities who have been trending in social media and pop culture.
"For instance, Stephen Nedoroscik, who participated in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, winning two bronze medals for U.S. men's gymnastics, went viral as 'pommel horse guy' and was compared to Clark Kent for taking his glasses off before his routine and locking in to perform. By incorporating such social-media sensations and fan-favorites as Stephen, Dancing with the Stars is able to leverage Stephen's rise in popularity from online, and direct it to their show."
Guarneri added: "With the range of stars each season sees, it's clear that the cast selection is strategic from an engagement and viewership perspective."
Additionally, Guarneri said there has been an increase in social-media content created by the cast, which has helped boost the show.
"In particular, from last season to this season, there has been growth in the TikTok content used to garner hype and viewership for the show," she added.
"Celebrities on the show who have a large following are now pushing and promoting the Dancing With the Stars brand on their socials, encouraging fans to tune in and watch the program. By creating this buzz across a number of different social-media celebrity pages and platforms, contestants are helping amplify the Dancing With the Stars brand and strategically drive that traffic back to their show, therefore increasing their viewership."
The stars themselves have even admitted to this. During a previous conversation with Newsweek, Roberts—Emma Roberts' father and Julia Roberts' brother—and his dance partner Stewart said that social media plays a core part of their strategy for winning the program. By harnessing the power of platforms like Instagram and TikTok, they aim to engage with their audience, share behind-the-scenes moments and showcase their journey—and encourage people to vote.
"Yes, we have a very strategic strategy for our voting. And so, yes, the coconut and the water was the first one of the series," Stewart said, referring to a video the duo previously posted, leveraging a social-media trend.
"And I'm just going to tell people to, like, keep voting for us to keep seeing those videos."
While we may not have direct insight into the PR strategy behind the scenes at Dancing With the Stars, Guarneri said that we can see the strategic PR ideas and factors at play for both the stars and the show itself.
"As previously mentioned, the show's casting shows considerable thought into how the program can best amplify what is current and what audiences want to see to drive viewership and popularity," she said.
"For example, after Stephen Nedoroscik's Olympic performance, people were speculating if he was going to join the Dancing With the Stars cast. When he did, the show, and Stephen, were making headline after headline. Further, after season 32's success in utilizing TikTok to showcase performances, this season's continued tapping of social media shows how the program is harnessing the power of social media to encourage votes and viewership."
Guarneri added: "With season 33, almost all of the couples are creating content together, showing behind-the-scenes content that showcases their offscreen personalities and a sense of authenticity—a whole new element to the show.
"Specifically, professional dancer Alan Bersten and U.S. women's rugby Olympic medalist Ilona Maher are fan favorites this season, which can be highly attributed to the couple's TikTok videos, showcasing their friendship and sense of humor.
"We have now seen that social media can have an impact on the routines as well, with Ilona stating on the live show that their week two dance—where she lifted Alan—was inspired by requests from fans on their TikTok pages.
"Following the performance, Illona posted their dance, with the caption: 'You asked, we delivered.' This further showcases how strategic social-media content can help to increase cast likability and fan engagement."
It should come as no surprise that a show that has been airing for so long has had a dip in popularity. Over the years, Dancing With the Stars has been able to survive multiple seasons with low viewership.
Guarneri said there was a drop in viewers from Season 29 to 30 by almost 3 million, based on season-premiere viewership ratings. From Seasons 30 to 32, viewership rose back up and remained stagnant. The recent start of Season 33 saw a large spike in premiere viewership, reaching 8.4 million viewers—a number the show has not seen in years.
"While it's hard to attribute this success and recent spike to just one thing, one aspect of this season that likely played a role in viewership was the return of first-time professional Rylee Arnold, sister of former professional Lindsay Arnold, who made her debut in the Season 32 cast," the PR expert continued.
"As a young dancer, Rylee brings a new energy and talent to the ballroom floor, and shares her journey regularly with her 1 million-plus TikTok followers, sparking a new generation of viewers. One of her choreographed dances from the show even became a trending TikTok dance last season!
"So, while the show's popularity resurgence can be attributed to multiple factors, the addition of new professionals, strategic celebrity casting and pairing, and the usage of social media to bring in viewers can account for some of this season's success," Guarneri said.
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