Ryan Seacrest‘s first week as host of Wheel of Fortune pulled in a lot of curious viewers — who then seemed to stick around past his debut episode.
Seacrest took over as host of the syndicated game show following Pat Sajak’s retirement at the end of the 2023-24 season after four decades fronting the show. (Sajak will continue hosting ABC’s primetime Celebrity Wheel of Fortune for the 2024-25 season.) The season premiere on Sept. 9 drew 9.63 million viewers, according to Nielsen, the biggest audience for a Wheel season opener since 2015 and within shouting distance of the 11 million people who watched Sajak’s last show.
The first week of shows averaged 8.31 million viewers, a 21 percent gain over premiere week in September 2023. The four installments after the season premiere averaged just under 8 million viewers, still well ahead of the 6.87 million for last year’s opening week.
Household ratings (still a key ratings measure for syndicated programming) also rose by 21 percent year to year, and all key demographics improved by 10 percent or more.
Sajak announced his retirement from the syndicated Wheel before the start of the 2023-24 season. Seacrest’s hiring came a couple of weeks later, and co-host Vanna White later extended her contract through 2025-26.