More on AEW & NXT Week 123 Viewership – Feb. 8 & 9, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 26

More on WWE NXT Viewership for February 8th

The February 8th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer large declines in overall viewership, key demographic ratings, and key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for airing on Syfy due to USA Network’s 2022 Winter Olympics Games commitments.

NXT drew 400,000 viewers and a 0.07 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 77th 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 their much lower than usual overall key demographic viewership and younger key demographic viewership groups, which were down 42.9% and 60% respectively compared to last week’s show. Another key reason was due to stiff sports competition, especially from the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. NXT’s overall viewership and key demographic rating reportedly were both the lowest ever in NXT history since its move to USA Network.

In regards to past airings on Syfy, Meltzer reported that the July 27, 2021 episode drew 520,000 viewers and a 0.12 key demographic rating while the August 3, 2021 episode drew 520,000 viewers and a 0.10 key demographic rating.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 Winter Olympics Games drew 1,725,000 viewers on USA Network, the NBA game of Boston Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets drew 824,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of Auburn vs. Arkansas drew 999,000 viewers on ESPN 2, the College basketball game of Illinois vs. Purdue drew 1,030,000 viewers on ESPN, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,514,000 viewers on History Channel, and Wipeout drew 463,000 viewers on TBS. The 2022 Winter Olympic Games coverage that night drew a combined 10,065,000 viewers on NBC and USA Network for head-to-head competition

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 97,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was down 54.5%, Females 18-34 was down 68.2%, Males 35-49 was down 30%, and Females 35-49 was down 48.6% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that due to NXT suffering very large declines in their key demographic viewership, this week’s episode had a median viewer age of 63.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 28.3% in overall viewership and down 39% in key demographic viewership.

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More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for February 9th

The February 9th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain a large increase in overall viewership and key demographic ratings and a slight increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 1,129,000 viewers and a 0.41 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 1st place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases this week was due to their gains from their older key demographic viewership and over 50 viewership groups, which were up 27.9% and 17.9% respectively compared to last week’s show. This was enough to offset the large declines in their Teenagers and younger female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 13.3% and 44.3% respectively compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that AEW’s overall viewership this week was their highest since the September 29, 2021 episode.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 Winter Olympics Games drew 1,396,000 viewers on USA Network, the NBA game of Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte Hornets drew 1,031,000 viewers on ESPN, and the NHL game of Nashville Predators vs. Dallas Stars drew 195,000 viewers on TNT, and South Park drew 658,000 viewers on Comedy Central. The 2022 Winter Olympic Games coverage that night drew a combined 11,228,000 viewers on NBC and USA Network for head-to-head competition.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 541,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 48.6%, Females 18-34 was down 44.3%, Males 35-49 was up 14.4%, and Females 35-49 was up 67.1% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of the million viewership milestone, all eight of AEW’s quarter hours averaged one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak was at 1,249,000 viewers for their first quarter while their low point was at 1,015,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In an interesting note, Meltzer reported that AEW managed to top this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in overall 18-49, overall Males 18-49, Males 18-34, Males 35-49, and Females 35-49 viewership groups. Meltzer reported that the main reason was due to RAW being moved over to Syfy network due to USA Network’s Winter Olympics coverage. In regards to overall Males 18-49 viewership, AEW had 376,000 viewers compared to 282,000 viewers for RAW. Meltzer speculated that AEW likely would have still beaten RAW in Males 18-49 even had the show aired on USA Network this week based on the size of the large gap in viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 52.4% in overall viewership and up 43.9% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 1,249,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Inner Circle meeting in-ring segment and the Young Bucks, Adam Cole, Jay White, and Roppongi Vice backstage promo & brawl segment which gained 96,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the Sting, Darby Allin, and Andrade El Idolo promo segment and the Wardlow vs. The Blade match which lost 159,000 viewers.

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for February 4th

The February 4th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and key demographic ratings but also gained a slight increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW Rampage drew 540,000 viewers and a 0.20 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 7th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to the large declines from their older key demographic viewership groups, which was down 23.4% compared to the prior week’s show, and stiff sports competition that night.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 Winter Olympics Games drew 1,447,000 viewers on USA Network, the NBA game of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Dallas Mavericks drew 793,000 viewers on ESPN, Gold Rush White Water drew 746,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, and Gold Rush The Dirt drew 515,000 viewers on Discovery Channel. The 2022 Winter Olympic Games coverage that night drew a combined 10,758,000 viewers on NBC and USA Network for head-to-head competition.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 263,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 2.1%, Females 18-34 was down 5%, Males 35-49 was down 9.9%, and Females 35-49 was down 46.8% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show was the second youngest skewing sports show for the week, only behind a La Liga soccer game. That week’s episode of Dynamite reportedly was the fourth youngest behind one La Liga game, AEW Rampage, and the NHL All-Stars Skills Challenge game.

AEW Rampage started off with around 595,000 viewers and had around 535,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 502,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 530,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the FTW Championship match of Jay Lethal vs. Ricky Starks (c).