More on AEW & NXT Week 129 Viewership – March 29 & 30, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 33

Apr 2, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for March 29th

The March 29th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a slight decline in overall viewership but gained a small increase in key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 626,000 viewers and a 0.14 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 22nd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for NXT’s mixed results this week was due to the large declines from their Teenagers and younger key demographic viewership group, which were down 20% and 22.2% respectively compared to last week’s show. This was offset by the large gains from their older males key demographic viewership group, which was up 18.9% compared to last week’s show. NXT’s overall key demographic viewership reportedly was their highest since their January 4th episode.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Los Angeles Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks drew 991,000 viewers on TNT, the 2022 NIT Basketball tournament game of St. Bonaventure vs. Xavier drew 764,000 viewers on ESPN, Curse of Oak Island drew 2,579,000 viewers on History Channel, and Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 981,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of peak viewership, Meltzer reported that NXT’s quarter hour peak was at 751,000 for overall viewership and 219,000 for overall key demographic viewership for the Toxic Attraction promo segment and brawl with Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 189,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was down 25.6%, Females 18-34 was down 16.7%, Males 35-49 was up 18.9%, and Females 35-49 was up 6.5% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 4.3% in overall viewership and down 37.5% in key demographic viewership.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for March 30th

The March 30th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership, and small decline in key demographic ratings.

AEW drew 979,000 viewers and a 0.38 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 3rd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to the large declines from their younger female key demographic viewership group, which was down 38.3% compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was the large declines in AEW’s Teenagers group, which was down 22.2% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics drew 1,375,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL game of New York Rangers vs. Detroit Red Wings drew 433,000 viewers on TNT, and Real Housewives of Orange County drew 782,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 492,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 5.9%, Females 18-34 was down 38.3%, Males 35-49 was down 2.9%, and Females 35-49 was up 14.5% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of the million viewership milestone, two out of AEW’s eight quarter hours averaged one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak was at 1,129,000 viewers for their first quarter and their low point was at 917,000 for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 39.9% in overall viewership and up 45.5% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 1,129,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was the Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo match which gained 53,000 viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the Jon Moxley vs. Jay Lethal match which lost 118,000 viewers.

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for March 25th

The March 25th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW gain a small increase in overall viewership, a slight increase in key demographic ratings, and a large increase in key demographic rankings. That week’s episode was notable for returning to its normal timeslot following the prior week’s preemption to a late start due to TNT’s 2022 NCAA Basketball tournament commitments.

AEW Rampage drew 425,000 viewers and a 0.14 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 32nd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases that week was due to the small rebound in all of their key demographic viewership groups compared to the prior week’s show. Another reason was due to the gains from their over 50 demographic viewership group. Despite the increases, that week’s show reportedly drew the lowest ever overall viewership and key demographic viewership for a show during its normal time slot in Rampage history. Meltzer reported that very stiff competition from NCAA basketball games was the main reason for AEW’s overall viewership increase being much lower than normal. Meltzer also reported that that week’s episode had a median viewership age of 52 years old, which was around five years older than what Rampage has been averaging for their shows.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 NCAA Basketball tournament game of Miami vs. Iowa State drew 2,552,000 viewers on TBS, the 2022 NCAA Basketball tournament game of Duke vs. Texas Tech drew 8,871,000 viewers on CBS, the 2022 NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament game of Creighton vs. Iowa State drew 405,000 viewers on ESPN, and Hoffman Family Gold drew 1,185,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 182,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 49.1%, Females 18-34 was down 6.5%, Males 35-49 was down 33.8%, and Females 35-49 was down 42.1% compared to the prior show two weeks ago. While the ranking for that week’s Rampage show was not given, Meltzer reported that week’s Dynamite show was the second youngest skewing sports show for the week, only behind the U.S. vs. Panama World Cup 2022 qualifier soccer game.

AEW Rampage started off with around 457,000 viewers and had around 393,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 432,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 418,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the Ricky Starks vs. Swerve Strickland match.