More on AEW & NXT Week 149 Viewership – Aug. 16 & 17, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 53 – Aug. 12, 2022

Aug 20, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for August 16th

The August 16th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a very large increase in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a large increase in key demographic ratings. This week’s show was notable for being the Heatwave themed special

NXT drew 723,000 viewers and a 0.18 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 5th place.

Detailed viewership and key demographic breakdowns were not available in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reason for NXT’s gains this week was due to the large gains from all of their demographic viewership groups, which was Teenagers up 20%, younger key demographic viewership up 42.9%, older key demographic viewership up 20%, and Over 50 up 18.2% compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the very large gain from their female key demographic viewership group, which was up 139.4% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the MLB game of Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees drew 370,000 viewers on TBS, the 7 Little Johnstons drew 963,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Down Under drew 690,000 viewers on Bravo, and Deadliest Catch drew 775,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 241,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 162,000 male viewers and 79,000 female viewers for a split of 67.2% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 10.6% in overall viewership and up 20.5% in key demographic viewership.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for August 17th

The August 17th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a small decline in overall viewership and key demographic ratings and a slight decline in key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for being the House of Dragon themed special.

AEW drew 972,000 viewers and a 0.30 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 1st place.

Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to the large decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 18.3% compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the large declines from their younger male key demographic viewership and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 29.9% and 24.2% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gains from their older male key demographic viewership group, which was up 4.5% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer also reported that AEW was only a few thousand key demographic viewers behind that night’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ show for the top ranked key demographic show of the night.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the WNBA 2022 Playoffs game of New York Liberty vs. Chicago Sky drew 288,000 viewers on ESPN2, the 2022 Little League World Series game of Bonney Lake, WA vs. Honolulu, HI drew 910,000 viewers on ESPN, the MLB game of Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers drew 386,000 viewers on FS1, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 1,052,000 viewers on Bravo, and Real Housewives of Dubai drew 502,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 385,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 29.9%, Females 18-34 was equal to last week, Males 35-49 was up 4.5%, and Females 35-49 was down 24.2%.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, three out of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,104,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 853,000 viewers for their sixth quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 2.9% in overall viewership and down 13.9% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 1,104,000 overall viewers and 437,000 key demo viewers (CM Punk & Jon Moxley promo segment)
2Q – 1,013,000 overall viewers and 400,000 key demo viewers (Powerhouse Hobbs backstage interview & start of Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia)
3Q – 909,000 overall viewers and 305,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of Danielson vs. Garcia match)
4Q – 1,007,000 overall viewers and 393,000 key demo viewers (Ending of Danielson vs. Garcia & post-match brawl with Chris Jericho, Swerve In Our Glory & Private Party backstage segment, Moxley’s attack on Tony Nese, promo, & pull apart brawl with Punk)
5Q – 953,000 overall viewers and 388,000 key demo viewers (JAS backstage segment, Gunn Club vs. Varsity Blonds match & post-match with Billy Gunn & Acclaimed, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, & Satnam Singh backstage segment, Death Triangle backstage segment, and Jungle Boy & Christian promo & brawl segment)
6Q – 853,000 overall viewers and 350,000 key demo viewers (Wardlow & FTR backstage segment and the Toni Storm vs. KiLynn King match)
7Q – 952,000 overall viewers and 391,000 key demo viewers (first half of the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. La Faccion Ingobernable match)
8Q – 863,000 overall viewers and 369,000 key demo viewers (second half of Young Bucks & Omega vs. La Faccion match)

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for August 12th

The August 12th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW gain a large increase in overall viewership and a small increase in key demographic ratings but also suffered a small decline in key demographic rankings. That week’s show was notable for being the Quake in the Lake themed special.

AEW Rampage drew 528,000 viewers and a 0.17 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 10th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s mixed results that week was due to the large increases from their older key demographic viewership and Over 50 viewership groups, which were up 25% and 9.5% respectively compared to the prior week’s show. This reportedly offset the large decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 12.7% compared to last week’s show. Another reason for AEW’s mixed results was due to stiff sports competition from the NFL, which took three out of the Top Five ranked shows for that night.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NFL Preseason game of Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers drew 1,361,000 viewers on NFL Network, the MLB simulcast games of New York Yankees vs. Boston and Cleveland vs. Toronto drew 283,000 viewers on MLB Network, the 2022 Little League World Series game of Honolulu, HI vs. Peoria, AR drew 729,000 viewers on ESPN, and 90 Day Fiance First Look drew 755,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 220,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 had 32,000 viewers, Females 18-34 had 23,000 viewers, Males 35-49 had 109,000 viewers, and Females 35-49 had 56,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 64.1% in favor of males. Meltzer also reported that week’s Rampage show did not rank in the Top 10 youngest skewing sports show for the week while that week’s Dynamite was the fifth youngest, behind two English Premier League games, one MLS game, and one UFC event.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 28.6% in overall viewership and down 44.4% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that the main reason for the large declines was due to last year’s show was the debut episode of Rampage.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 612,000 overall viewers and 258,000 key demo viewers (Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia promo segment and the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship match of Skye Blue & Dante Martin vs. Tay Melo & Sammy Guevara (c))
2Q – 511,000 overall viewers and 204,000 key demo viewers (Lucha Brothers backstage promo, Parker Boudreaux vs. Sonny Kiss match, AFO backstage segment, and bulk of the Gunn Club vs. Erick Redbeard & Danhausen match)
3Q – 494,000 overall viewers and 216,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Gunn Club vs. Redbeard & Danhausen match, Swerve In Our Glory backstage interview, and HOOK & Zack Clayton promo segment)
4Q – 494,000 overall viewers and 202,000 key demo viewers (Orange Cassidy vs. Ari Daivari)