The December 23rd episodes of AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT saw both shows decline in overall viewership and key demographic rankings. AEW continued their advantage over NXT in the key demographic rankings. This week’s AEW Dynamite was held as a special “Holiday Bash” themed episode.
AEW drew 775,000 viewers and a #5 ranking in the 18-49 demographic while NXT drew 698,000 and a #40 ranking in the 18-49 demographic.
The results of the quarter-hour segment breakdowns were not revealed in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter due to the Christmas holiday.
Dave Meltzer reported that AEW managed to be ranked #2 in its time slot in key demographic viewership, behind only the Utah Jazz vs. Portland Trail Blazers NBA game on ESPN. Meltzer reported that while NXT’s viewership and key demographic rankings could be viewed as a big disappointment due to their show running unopposed against AEW, it did face very stiff sports competition from the NBA.
In regards to AEW’s expectations for this week’s viewership, Meltzer reported on Twitter that they were expecting a number within the range of 600,000 to 1 million. The reason for the large range was due to them expecting a very strong start with the lead-in in from the NBA and a much weaker latter half of the show due to it airing later than its usual time slot. Meltzer reported that AEW skewed a lot stronger in male viewership than usual this week due to the NBA itself skews more in male viewers than AEW does.
In terms of key demographic rankings breakdowns, AEW ranked the highest in viewership with their Males 18-49 and Males 12-34 demographic groups at the #4 ranking for each. NXT’s highest ranked viewership was their Males 18-49 group at the #20 ranking.
In terms of key demographic groups, AEW biggest increase was with the Teenagers demographic group at 166.7% higher and their biggest decline was with the 35-49 group at 16.3% lower compared to last week’s show. NXT’s biggest increase was with the 18-34 demographic group at 28.6% and their biggest decline was with the Teenagers group at 27.3% lower than last week’s show.