More on AEW vs. NXT Week 60 & 61 Viewership

Dec 5, 2020

More on AEW vs. NXT Week 60 Viewership

The November 25th episodes of AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT saw both shows tied in overall viewership following a ratings correction from Nielsen and AEW continued their advantage over NXT in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 712,000 viewers and a #7 ranking in the 18-49 demographic while NXT drew 712,000 and a #25 ranking in the 18-49 demographic.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that in terms of head-to-head competition, AEW had 712,000 viewers while NXT had 709,000 viewers. In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 340,000 viewers while NXT had 253,000 viewers total and 251,000 viewers for head-to-head.

Meltzer reported that AEW’s audience skewed more older than usual and was the oldest to date for a weekly Dynamite show. NXT reportedly skewed more younger than they had been averaging for weekly shows. Meltzer also reported that AEW’s decline in overall viewership was contributed by big losses in every key demographic group except Males 35-49.

In terms of quarter-hour breakdowns, AEW won every quarter in key demographic viewership and four out of eight quarters for overall viewership. NXT reportedly won the first four quarters for overall viewership. NXT also reportedly won one quarter for the 35-49 demographic group, which was the fourth quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 7.1% in overall viewership and up 0.8% in key demographic viewership. NXT was down 12.1% in overall viewership and down 16.7% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 702,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. SCU match which gained 106,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the latter half of the AEW Women’s World Championship match of Anna Jay vs. Hikaru Shida, Matt Hardy interview segment, and the Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Brian Cage promo segment which lost 78,000 viewers.

WWE NXT started off with around 805,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the KO Show segment with Kevin Owens, Leon Ruff, Johnny Gargano, Damian Priest, and William Regal which gained 11,000 viewers. NXT biggest decline of the night was the Candice LeRae vs. Ember Moon post-match stuff, Legado del Fantasma interview segment, and Undisputed Era’s promo segment which lost 84,000 viewers. NXT’s overrun gained an additional 141,000 viewers to end the night.

More on AEW vs. NXT Week 61 Viewership

The December 2nd episodes of AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT saw AEW gain a sizable increase in overall viewership and continue their advantage over NXT in key demographic rankings. AEW’s December 2nd show was held as a special “Winter is Coming” themed episode of Dynamite.

AEW drew 913,000 viewers and a #1 ranking in the 18-49 demographic via a tie while NXT drew 658,000 and a #56 ranking in the 18-49 demographic.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW’s key demographic viewership was the highest of the year and managed to beat this week’s episode of RAW in terms of the Males 18-34 demographic group and beat last week’s episode of SmackDown in terms of the Females 18-34 demographic group. Both RAW and SmackDown’s shows reportedly beat AEW’s show in terms of overall 18-34 viewership.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 543,000 viewers while NXT had 210,000 viewers. AEW reportedly had two segments that surpassed their previous coronavirus pandemic era record of 526,000 viewers, which were the first 15 minutes of Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega at 588,000 viewers and the final quarter hour of the show at 581,000 viewers.

In terms of main event quarter-hours, AEW reportedly had 945,000 overall viewers for their final quarter compared to 689,000 overall viewers for NXT’s final quarter.

In terms of key demographic breakdowns, AEW reportedly managed to more than double NXT in every key demographic group except for Females 35-49. AEW’s largest gap was with Males 18-34 group which was around seven times larger (103,000 viewers) than NXT’s viewership for the group (14,000).

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 7.3% in overall viewership and up 31.3% in key demographic viewership. NXT was down 22.1% in overall viewership and down 44.8% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 844,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the bulk Cody Rhodes & Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs match, the post-match stuff with Sting’s debut, and Hikaru Shida’s interview segment which gained 68,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the Britt Baker vs. Leyla Hirsch post-match stuff with Thunder Rosa and the beginning of the Rhodes & Allin vs. Starks & Hobbs match which lost 66,000 viewers.

WWE NXT started off with around 718,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Women’s WarGames Advantage Ladder match of Raquel Gonzalez vs. Shotzi Blackheart which gained 112,000 viewers. NXT’s biggest decline of the night was the Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher in-ring segment, WarGames promo video, and Thatcher interview segment which lost 42,000 viewers.

Canadian and United Kingdom Viewership for Several AEW & NXT November and December Shows

Dave Meltzer reported in recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter issues that AEW drew 143,000 viewers for their November 13th and 164,000 viewers for their November 20th episodes on ITV4 in the United Kingdom. NXT reportedly did not chart for their November 11th and November 18th episodes on BT Sport meaning the viewership is currently not known. For some comparisons, Impact Wrestling drew 10,300 viewers for their November 18th episode on Freesports in the United Kingdom.

Post Wrestling’s John Pollock reported that AEW drew 108,500 viewers for their December 2nd episode on TSN 2 in Canada.