Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor: Reality Shows Renewed for 2012-13

The alphabet network has renewed their top reality TV series. The Bachelor will return for cycle 17 and Dancing with the Stars will be back for cycle 15. While both are still very popular, they’ve lost a lot of steam this season.

This year, The Bachelor attracted a 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 8.25 million total viewers. Year-to-year, the show was down by a whopping 21% in the demo (vs a 3.3 rating) and down by 20% in total viewers (vs 10.33 million). It was still the third-highest rated non-scripted show on the network however and merited an “A+” grade on our ABC Ratings Report Card (which measures shows’ relative demo ratings on the network).

Dancing with the Stars has come down even further.

Should DWTS run just once a year? Yes, I think so. Maybe, I'm not sure. No! I want to see it twice a year. View Results  Loading ...

The current spring cycle’s performance episodes are averaging a 3.02 rating in the demo with 17.11 million viewers. Year-to-year, that’s down by a whopping 34% in the demo (vs a 4.6 rating) and 21% in viewership (vs 21.76 million).

The results show is averaging a 2.56 rating with 14.43 million. That’s down by 27% in the demo (vs a 3.5) and down by 18% in viewers (vs 17.67 million).

While there’s no question that ABC should be renewing these successful shows, it certainly might be time for them to consider cutting Dancing with the Stars back to one cycle per season. The Bachelor ran twice a year, from 2002 until 2008, before the network cut that show back.

ABC will announce their 2012-13 schedule next week so we’ll know just what they have in store for next season.

What do you think? Are you glad that Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor have been renewed? Which show do you like better? Is it time to cut DWTS back to once a year?