More on AEW & NXT Week 114 Viewership – Dec. 7 & 8, 2021, AEW Rampage Week 17

More on WWE NXT Viewership for December 7th

The December 7th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer sizable drops in overall viewership and key demographic ratings while also suffering a large drop in key demographic ranking.

NXT drew 590,000 viewers and a 0.11 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 48th place.

Detailed demographic and quarter-hours breakdowns were not available in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for NXT’s declines this week was due to the large drop in their younger key demographic viewership, which was 55% lower than last week’s show for their overall 18-34 group. Meltzer reported that this week’s show generated the second lowest ever overall key demographic viewership and lowest ever overall 18-34 key demographic viewership for a regular show in NXT history since the move to USA Network. Meltzer also reported that due to the large declines in NXT’s younger key demographic viewership, this week’s show drew a median age of 62 years old, which is the oldest in NXT history.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Brooklyn Nets vs. Dallas Maverick drew 1,317,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Tennessee Volunteers drew 817,000 viewers on ESPN, and 2021 The People’s Choice Awards drew 3,672,000 viewers on NBC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 148,000 viewers. NXT’s sole increase was with their Males 35-49 group at 35.2% higher than last week’s show. NXT’s biggest decrease was with their Males 18-34 group at 55.6% lower than last week’s show. Meltzer reported that this week’s show was only 3,000 viewers higher than their November 16th show for the lowest ever key demographic viewership for a regular show.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 10.5% in overall viewership and down 31.8% in key demographic viewership.

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More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for December 8th

The December 8th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain slight increases in overall viewership, key demographic ratings, and key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 872,000 viewers and a 0.33 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 5th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increase this week was due to the gains in their older key demographic viewership at 9.3% higher than last week which was enough to offset the declines in their other demographic groups, which ranged between 2.8% to 9.3% lower than last week’s show. Meltzer also reported that another reason was due to the first thirty minutes of this week’s show was strong enough to offset the declines throughout the remainder of the show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat drew 1,257,000 viewers on ESPN, Challenge drew 665,000 viewers on MTV, and the Real Housewives of Orange County drew 1,024,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 426,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest increase was with their Females 35-49 group at 6.6% higher than last week’s show. AEW’s sole decrease was with their Males 18-34 group at 9.1% lower than last week’s show.

In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that AEW managed to top this week’s WWE RAW show in Females 18-34 group at 50,000 viewers compared to 45,000 for RAW and in Males 35-49 group at 225,000 viewers compared to 207,000 viewers for RAW. AEW also managed to tie RAW in overall male key demographic viewership at 295,000 viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 12.4% in overall viewership and down 27.1% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 922,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale match which gained 58,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the Jurassic Express & Varsity Blonds vs. The Acclaimed and 2point0 tag team match and the post-match Eddie Kingston backstage promo & brawl with 2point0, Daniel Garcia, & Ortiz which lost 116,000 viewers.

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for December 3rd

The December 3rd episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW gain a large increase in overall viewership and a slight increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW Rampage drew 499,000 viewers and a 0.18 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 16th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increase that week was due to the very larger than normal gains from their overall female key demographic viewership, which was enough to offset the large decline suffered in their Males 18-34 group at 40.4% lower than the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that due to the huge gains, AEW had more female than male viewers for their 18-34 and Teenagers groups which is unheard of for an AEW show. Meltzer also reported that week’s show gender split of 40.7% for female viewers was among the highest ever for an AEW show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors drew 2,037,000 viewers on ESPN and the 2021 PAC-12 College Football Championship game of Oregon Ducks vs. Utah Utes drew 4,247,000 viewers on ABC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 241,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest increase was with their Females 18-34 group at 65.4% higher than the prior week’s show. AEW’s biggest decrease was with their Males 18-34 group at 40.4% lower than the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show was the eight youngest sports show for the week, behind four Mexican Liga MX soccer games, two MLS soccer games, and one English Premier League soccer game. Meltzer also reported that week’s Dynamite show was the eleventh youngest, trailing another EPL game and a UFC show.

AEW Rampage started off with around 551,000 viewers and had around 470,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 487,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 487,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the bulk of the PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. FTR tag team match.