The school year is off to a strong start: “Abbott Elementary” returned to ABC with the premiere of its sixth season on Oct. 7 and achieved its strongest viewership in a year.

After seven days of viewing, the Season 6 premiere reached a total of 6.3 million viewers and a across all platforms. Not only does that represent the show’s best seven-day audience since the third episode of Season 5 on October 15, 2025, one year ago; the episode’s 2.07 rating among adults age 18-49 was the highest in more than 18 months, outpacing all “Abbott” episodes since the 19th episode of Season 4 on March 26, 2025. Compared to the Season 5 premiere in 2025, Season 6 opened with 7% more viewers (up from 5.9 million) and a 16% higher rating (up from 1.79).

Additionally, in terms of streaming specifically, Season 6 premiered with the show’s best seven-day streaming viewership since the ninth episode of Season 4 on Jan. 8, 2025.

On Oct. 7 alone, the Season 6 premiere brought in 2.2 million viewers and scored a 0.33 rating, meaning that delayed viewing on streaming and other platforms represented increases of 183% and 527%, respectively.

“Abbott Elementary” was created by Quinta Brunson, who also leads the cast, while Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker serve as showrunners. Executive producers include Brunson; Halpern and Schumacker via their Delicious Non-Sequitur Productions banner; director Randall Einhorn; and writer Brian Rubenstein. Warner Bros. Television and 20th Television serve as co-studios on the comedy series.