More on AEW vs. NXT Week 66 & 67 Viewership, Impact Viewership

Jan 16, 2021

AEW vs. NXT Week 66 Viewership Update

As noted before, the January 6th episodes of AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT resulted in Dynamite generating around 662,000 viewers on TNT and a #48 ranking in the 18-49 key demographic while NXT generated around 641,000 viewers on USA Network and a #68 ranking in the 18-49 key demographic.

This week’s issue of the Wresting Observer Newsletter provided more details for both shows that week.

Dave Meltzer reported that when taking out the overrun, NXT drew 637,500 for overall viewership and 200,600 for key demographic viewership in head-to-head competition with AEW’s show.

In terms of quarter-hour breakdowns, AEW reportedly won six out of eight quarters in overall viewership and every quarter in key demographic viewership. NXT reportedly won the first and fifth quarters for overall viewership.

In terms of the main event quarter, AEW had 644,000 for overall viewership and 330,000 for key demographic viewership for the AEW World Championship match between Rey Fenix and Kenny Omega and post-match angle. NXT had 596,000 for overall viewership and 191,000 for key demographic viewership for the NXT Championship between Kyle O’Reilly and Finn Balor.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 695,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the AEW Women’s World Championship match of Abadon vs. Hikaru Shida which gained 48,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the bulk of the Wardlow vs. Jake Hager match and the Matt Hardy, Private Party, and Snoop Dogg segment which lost 50,000 viewers.

WWE NXT started off with around 747,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the NXT Championship match of O’Reilly vs. Balor which gained 38,000 viewers. NXT’s biggest decline of the night was the ending of the Damian Priest vs. Karrion Kross match and Adam Cole & Roderick Strong interview segment which lost 92,000 viewers. NXT’s overrun gained an additional 101,000 viewers to end the night.

More on AEW vs. NXT Week 67 Viewership

The January 13th episodes of AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT saw AEW gain a sizeable amount in viewership while NXT drew one of their least viewed shows ever on USA Network. AEW continued their advantage over NXT in regards of key demographic viewership. AEW held the second part of their New Year’s Smash themed episodes for this week’s show.

AEW drew 762,000 viewers and a #31 ranking in the 18-49 demographic while NXT drew 551,000 and a #70 ranking in the 18-49 demographic.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that stiff competition from both sports and news programming played a key factor in the low viewership for both shows. NXT reportedly drew their least viewed for a non-special regular show on USA Network to date. AEW reportedly was hurt the most with their female viewership, which was way down from their usual numbers.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 388,000 viewers while NXT had 182,000 viewers. For head-to-head viewership, NXT had 547,000 for overall viewership and 183,000 for key demographic viewership. All four of AEW’s key demographic increased for the week with the biggest being their Males 18-34 group at 45.1% higher than last week’s show. NXT’s biggest increase was with their Females 18-34 group at 87.5% higher and their biggest decrease was with their Males 35-49 group at 36% lower than last week’s show.

In terms of quarter-hour breakdowns, AEW reportedly won every quarter for overall and key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW managed to double NXT’s key demographic viewership in six out of eight quarters and held leads of over 200,000 viewers in four out of eight quarters.

In terms of the main event quarter, AEW reportedly had 811,000 for overall viewership and 425,000 for key demographic viewership for the TNT Championship match of Brian Cage vs. Darby Allin. NXT reportedly had 496,000 for overall viewers and 152,000 for key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT might have drawn their least ever for a main event quarter since the move to USA Network.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 18.9% in overall viewership and down 21.6% in key demographic viewership compared to the same week last year. NXT was 21.3% in overall viewership and down 32.3% in key demographic viewership compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 733,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Danny Limelight & Varsity Blondes tag team match which gained 99,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the Waiting Room segment featuring Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill, and the women’s brawl which lost 68,000 viewers.

WWE NXT started off with around 589,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the ending of the Johnny Gargano vs. Dexter Lumis match, the Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher vignette, and the Undisputed Era interview segment which gained 97,000 viewers. NXT’s biggest decline of the night was the MSK vs. Isaiah Scott & Jake Atlas tag team match which lost 94,000 viewers.

Impact Wrestling Viewership for January 12th

Impact Wrestling Impact! drew 161,000 viewers on AXS TV, up from last week’s 148,000 viewers. This week’s episode was the go-home show for Impact’s Hard to Kill event.

In the 18-49 key demographic, Impact drew a 0.05 rating, up from last week’s 0.04 rating, and a #126 ranking.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this week’s show skewed significantly younger than Impact’s usual average. Meltzer also reported that this week’s show also skewed younger than this week’s episodes of WWE RAW and WWE NXT and last week’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown.