For most of its run, Dancing With the Stars was considered classic broadcast comfort TV, with a median viewer age of around 63.5 years old—one of the “oldest” audiences on network television. (IndieWire)
Over the past few seasons, however, the show has quietly repositioned itself. Ratings among younger viewers have climbed, and recent episodes have delivered their best performance in years with adults 18–34, including a 1.53 rating in that demo—its strongest result in nearly a decade. (PopRant) Commentators now describe it as a 20-year-old format that has “cracked the code” on getting audiences under 35 to tune in to appointment television again. (AOL)
From a marketing perspective, DWTS offers a useful blueprint for how a legacy brand can become relevant to Gen Z without abandoning its core identity.
- Meeting Gen Z Where They Watch
A key shift was distribution. The move to Disney+ in 2022, combined with continued broadcasts on ABC and availability on Hulu, turned DWTS from a single-channel program into a multiplatform property. (Glamour)
This structure matters for younger audiences:
- ABC keeps the traditional, linear audience.
- Disney+ and Hulu align the show with digital native viewing habits—on demand, across devices.
- Social clips then extend each episode into an ongoing stream of content across the week.
As one recent analysis notes, expanding to streaming platforms helped the series “reposition itself within Gen Z’s viewing habits,” making it accessible in the environments where younger viewers already spend time. (The Cornell Daily Sun)
Marketing implication: For brands with “older” core audiences, modern relevance often starts with distribution. The product does not need to change dramatically, but access and format do.
2. Casting for Cultural Relevance, Not Just Name Recognition
Another major pivot has been casting. Recent seasons deliberately include:
- Younger professional dancers
- Social Media Native contestants and influencers
- Athletes and reality personalities with active online communities
Coverage notes that the cast has increasingly featured Gen Z influencers and viral reality stars, helping the show feel current rather than purely nostalgic. (Glamour) Local and national pieces have also highlighted younger pros and contestants as a key driver of the audience “resurgence” among younger viewers. (King Street Chronicle)
Professional dancer Rylee Arnold is frequently cited as an example: industry commentary describes how her age, presence on TikTok, and willingness to treat social media as an extension of the show have helped connect DWTS to a younger demographic. (ABC7 New York)
Marketing implication: When trying to reach Gen Z, brands benefit from putting people in the foreground who already live comfortably in digital culture—whether that is creators, younger staff, or community figures with authentic followings.
3. Treating TikTok as a Second Stage
Dancing With the Stars has also moved from simply promoting episodes online to designing content for social platforms from the start.
Examples include:
- A dedicated TikTokthemed night, with routines and song choices crafted to perform well as short form clips. (likeandsubscribenews.substack.com)
- Regular behind the scenes content from pros and celebrities: rehearsals, first attempts at choreography, informal post show reactions, and dayinthelife snippets. (Good Housekeeping)
Instead of treating the broadcast as the “main event” and social as an afterthought, the show now functions as a content engine: each live routine is potential fuel for TikTok sounds, Instagram Reels, and fan edits.
Marketing implication: For Gen Z, the most important moments often happen in vertical video, not in the original longform asset. Campaigns that are planned with those moments in mind from the beginning are more likely to spread organically.
4. Elevating Professionals and Parasocial Relationships
Historically, the “stars” in Dancing With the Stars were the celebrities. Recent coverage, however, points out that the professional dancers have become the emotional center of the show, with large social followings and ongoing storylines that extend beyond a single season. (Glamour)
Gen Z viewers follow:
- The arcs of individual pros across seasons
- Friendships and relationships that continue off air
- Personal content on Instagram and TikTok, which deepens parasocial ties
This dynamic aligns with how younger audiences engage with media more broadly: they form attachments to specific people rather than to a network or time slot.
Marketing implication: In brand terms, this is employee and creators storytelling. Allowing recurring human “characters” to carry a long term narrative can be more compelling than relying only on campaign based messaging.
6. Lessons for Legacy Brands Targeting Gen Z
Taken together, the evolution of Dancing With the Stars offers several practical lessons:
- Modernize access before you reinvent the product.
Strategic use of streaming and on demand platforms can refresh an older property without discarding what loyal audiences value. - Cast people your target audience already cares about.
Socialnative talent, younger professionals, and digital creators can bridge the gap between a legacy brand and Gen Z culture. - Design for social from the outset.
Plan episodes, events, or campaigns with specific short form “moments” in mind, rather than treating clips as leftover material. - Center real people, not just branding.
Pros, employees, advocates, and creators can serve as ongoing anchors for engagement, especially when their stories continue across platforms. - Build interaction into the core experience.
Voting, polls, Q&A sessions, and other participatory mechanisms turn audiences into active stakeholders rather than passive viewers.
In a media landscape where younger viewers have endless options, Dancing With the Stars shows that a longrunning format can still feel current—if it is willing to adapt its distribution, casting, and engagement strategy to how Gen Z actually discovers and experiences content.
