More on AEW & NXT Week 156 Viewership – Oct. 4 & 5, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 60 – Sept. 30, 2022

Oct 8, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for October 4th

The October 4th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a small decline in overall viewership and key demographic ratings and a large decline in key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for being the debut of a new era of WWE’s NXT brand.

NXT drew 625,000 viewers and a 0.13 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 30th 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 declines this week was due to the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership and male key demographic viewership groups, which were down 20% and 19.1% respectively compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the decline from their older key demographic viewership group, which was down 18.2% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards drew 708,000 viewers on BET, the MLB game of Philadelphia Phillies vs. Houston Astros drew 316,000 viewers on TBS, the MLB simulcast games of New York Yankees vs. Texas and Minnesota vs. Chicago White Sox drew 380,000 viewers on MLB Network, the NBA Preseason game of New Orleans Pelicans vs. Chicago Bulls drew 495,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA Preseason game of Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks drew 466,000 viewers on TNT, 7 Little Johnstons drew 860,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Down Under drew 303,000 viewers on Bravo, and Deadliest Catch Viking drew 806,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 169,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 110,000 male viewers and 59,000 female viewers for a split of 65.1% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 1.1% in overall viewership but up 3% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 33.3% compared to the same week last year.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for October 5th

The October 5th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain a small increase in overall viewership and key demographic rankings but suffered a slight decline in key demographic ratings. This week’s show was notable for being the Dynamite 3rd Anniversary special.

AEW drew 1,038,000 viewers and a 0.33 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 2nd place.

Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s mixed results this week was due to the large gains from their Over 50 demographic viewership group, which was up 12.2% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the large decline from their younger key demographic group, which was down 12.6% compared to last week’s show, and the overrun failing to provide a boost in both overall and key demographic viewership.

In an interesting note, Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that AEW’s lead-in programming viewership from The Big Bang has been hurting more than helping AEW in regards to their first quarter viewership in recent months. Big Bang reportedly has gone from averaging around 1,364,000 viewers and a 0.32 rating per week during the early months of this year to now averaging around 986,000 viewers and a 0.23 rating per week since this past July.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA Preseason game of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Philadelphia 76ers drew 219,000 viewers on NBA TV, the NHL Preseason game of Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers drew 268,000 viewers on TNT, the College football game of SMU vs. UCF drew 866,000 viewers on ESPN2, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 1,199,000 viewers on Bravo, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drew 667,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 430,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 2.9%, Females 18-34 was down 13.1%, Males 35-49 was down 5.1%, and Females 35-49 was up 9.9%. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was at 67% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, six of AEW’s eight quarters and the extra overrun quarter drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,179,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 879,000 viewers for their overrun quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 0.5% in overall viewership but down 10.6% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 7.2% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 1,179,000 overall viewers and 484,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the MJF vs. Wheeler Yuta match)
2Q – 1,155,000 overall viewers and 482,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the MJF vs. Yuta match and post-match with Lee Moriarty & William Regal, the JAS backstage segment, and the first half of the Jay Lethal vs. Darby Allin match)
3Q – 1,084,000 overall viewers and 455,000 key demo viewers (Second half of the Lethal vs. Allin match and post-match angle, The Embassy video promo segment, and the start of the TNT Championship match of Brian Cage vs. Wardlow (c))
4Q – 1,074,000 overall viewers and 440,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the TNT Championship match and post-match brawl with Gates of Agony & Samoa Joe, and the Britt Baker backstage promo segment)
5Q – 1,058,000 overall viewers and 417,000 key demo viewers (Athena, Toni Storm, & Willow Nightingale vs. Jamie Hayter, Penelope Ford, & Serena Deeb match and the post-match brawl with Saraya & Baker and the LFI backstage segment)
6Q – 1,013,000 overall viewers and 421,000 key demo viewers (“National Scissoring Day” segment with The Acclaimed, Billy Gunn, Swerve Strickland, & Mark Sterling, and the Dark Order & Death Triangle promo video segment)
7Q – 953,000 overall viewers and 385,000 key demo viewers (Madison Rayne, Skye Blue, Tay Melo & Anna Jay backstage segment and the RUSH vs. Hangman Adam Page and post-match with Jon Moxley)
8Q – 944,000 overall viewers and 391,000 key demo viewers (Nightingale & The Baddies backstage segment, the Luchasaurus vs. Fuego del Sol match and post-match with Jungle Boy & Christian Cage, and the PAC & Trent Beretta video package segment)
Overrun – 879,000 overall viewers and 378,000 key demo viewers (Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia)

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for September 30th

The September 30th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership, a small decline in key demographic rankings, and a slight decline in key demographic ratings.

AEW Rampage drew 472,000 viewers and a 0.16 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 9th place.

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

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reasons for AEW’s declines that week was due to the large declines from their Teenagers, younger key demographic viewership, and Over 50 demographic viewership groups, which were down 42.9%, 35.5%, and 12% compared to the prior week’s show. AEW’s older key demographic viewership reportedly was around the same as the prior week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the College football game of Tulane vs. Houston drew 1,224,000 viewers on ESPN, the College football game of Washington vs. UCLA drew 1,704,000 viewers on ESPN, the MLB simulcast games of New York Yankees vs. Baltimore and Boston vs. Toronto drew 423,000 viewers on MLB Network, On Patrol Live drew 808,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and 90 Day Fiance First Look drew 729,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 202,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 123,000 male viewers and 79,000 female viewers for a split of 60.9% 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 skewing sports show, behind a Formula-1 race, two English Premier League soccer games, and the United States vs. Saudi Arabia soccer game.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 29.8% in overall viewership and down 38.8% in key demographic viewership.