Tim Allen’s ‘Shifting Gears’ Is Now ABC’s Most-Streamed Series Premiere Ever

Tim Allen’s new ABC sitcom “Shifting Gears” is revving its ratings engine. According to ABC, the series now stands as the most-watched ABC series premiere on streaming to date, via first seven days of views on both Hulu and the Hulu portion of Disney+.

Per the Alphabet net, the Jan. 8 premiere of “Shifting Gears” has now averaged close to 17 million views on multiplatform, including linear ABC (and subsequent repeats) and timeshifting, as well as Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and other digital platforms. That 16.95 million number is up 173% from the show’s initial live+same day delivery of 6.2 million viewers.

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Take out the linear repeats, and the show’s seven-day multiplatform average is 12.45 million viewers — up 101% from its 6.2 million L+SD tally — and a 2.94 rating with adults 18-49, up 339% from its L+SD 18-49 average of 0.67.

According to ABC, this makes it the network’s most-watched debut since “The Conners” on Oct. 16, 2018. “Shifting Gears” stars Allen as Matt, “the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop,” per the official logline. “When Matt’s estranged daughter (Kat Dennings) and her kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.” Seann William Scott, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis also star.

Meanwhile, the “Abbott Elementary”/”It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” crossover, which also aired on Jan. 8, hit a series high for “Abbott” in streaming, via Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, according to the network.

So far, the seven-day multiplatform number is 8.05 million in total viewers and a 2.57 rating with adults 18-49. The only episode to beat it in that measurement was the show’s post-Oscars episode last March.

The “Abbott”/”Sunny” episode averaged 4.9 million viewers in linear L+7 (up 28% from 3.82 million on L+SD) and a 0.9 rating with adults 18-49 (up 32% from 0.68 in L+SD).

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