More on AEW & NXT Week 157 Viewership – Oct. 11 & 12, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 61 – Oct. 7, 2022, Battle of the Belts IV

Oct 15, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for October 11th

The October 11th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a very large increase in overall viewership, a large increase in key demographic rankings, and a small increase in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 737,000 viewers and a 0.15 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 14th 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 increases this week was due to the large gains in all of their key demographic viewership groups, which was up 33.3% in Teenagers, 25% in younger key demographic viewership, 11.1% in older key demographic viewership, and 13.9% in Over 50 demographic viewership groups compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the very stiff sports competition from the MLB 2022 Playoffs that night. Meltzer reported that NXT’s overall viewership was the highest since their October 26, 2021 episode, which was the Halloween Havoc 2021 special.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of Cleveland Guardians vs. New York Yankees drew 5,345,000 viewers on TBS, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers drew 2,432,000 viewers on FS1, the NHL game of Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Rangers drew 744,000 viewers on ESPN, 7 Little Johnstons drew 947,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Down Under drew 615,000 viewers on Bravo, and Deadliest Catch Viking drew 623,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 196,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 130,000 male viewers and 66,000 female viewers for a split of 66.3% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was up 16.6% in overall viewership and up 0.5% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 11.1% compared to the same week last year.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for October 12th

The October 12th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership, and a slight decline in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 983,000 viewers and a 0.32 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 4th place.

Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to very stiff sports competition and the large decline from their older key demographic viewership and Over 50 demographic viewership groups, which were down 8.7% and 4.3% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gains from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was up 3.9% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that AEW’s current streak of eight weeks in a row where they drew over 975,000 viewers is only the second time in Dynamite history that a streak of this length has taken place.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 2 of Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves drew 4,196,000 viewers on FOX, the MLB Playoffs Game 2 of San Diego Padres vs. Los Angeles Dodgers drew 3,108,000 viewers on FS1, the NBA Preseason game of Brooklyn Nets vs. Milwaukee Bucks drew 724,000 viewers on ESPN, the Liga MX soccer game of Puebla vs. America drew 537,000 viewers on TUDN, the NHL game of Boston Bruins vs. Washington Capitols drew 629,000 viewers on TNT, the College football game of Louisiana vs. Marshall drew 496,000 viewers on ESPN2, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 1,430,000 viewers on Bravo, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drew 708,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 412,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 11.9%, Females 18-34 was up 34%, Males 35-49 was down 1.1%, and Females 35-49 was up 24.7%. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was at 64.6% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, three of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,071,000 viewers for their third quarter while their quarter low was at 857,000 viewers for their eighth quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 35.2% in overall viewership and up 5.9% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 18.5% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 1,069,000 overall viewers and 428,000 key demo viewers (Christian Cage interview segment and the bulk of the Luchasaurus vs. Jack Perry match)
2Q – 1,045,000 overall viewers and 442,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Luchasaurus vs. Perry match and the Ethan Page, Stokely Hathaway, Private Party, Jose, & Matt Hardy backstage segment)
3Q – 1,071,000 overall viewers and 451,000 key demo viewers (WarJoe vs. The Factory match and post-match angle with The Embassy, FTR, & Shawn Spears, JAS backstage segment, and start of the Swerve Strickland vs. Billy Gunn match)
4Q – 998,000 overall viewers and 424,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Strickland vs. Gunn match and post-match angle with The Acclaimed, Mark Sterling, & Tony Nese, and the start of the Jon Moxley & Hangman Adam Page promo segment)
5Q – 983,000 overall viewers and 403,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Moxley & Page promo segment and start of the ROH World Championship match of Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho (c))
6Q – 963,000 overall viewers and 409,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the ROH World Championship match and post-match angle with Daniel Garcia and the Nyla Rose & Anna Jay backstage segment)
7Q – 879,000 overall viewers and 374,000 key demo viewers (Dr. Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida & Toni Storm)
8Q – 857,000 overall viewers and 366,000 key demo viewers (AEW All-Atlantic Championship match of Orange Cassidy vs. PAC (c))

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for October 7th

The October 7th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a small decline in key demographic ratings. That weeks’ show was notable for being held as a live show.

AEW Rampage drew 404,000 viewers and a 0.13 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 20th 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 stiff sports competition that night and the large declines from their female key demographic viewership, older key demographic viewership, and Over 50 viewership groups, which were down 34.2%, 24%, and 13.6% compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 1 of San Diego Padres vs. New York Mets drew 3,609,000 viewers on ESPN, the College football game of Nebraska vs. Rutgers drew 1,153,000 viewers on FS1, the College football game of Houston vs. Memphis drew 699,000 viewers on ESPN2, On Patrol Live drew 810,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and 90 Day Fiance First Look drew 743,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 173,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 117,000 male viewers and 52,000 female viewers for a split of 69.2% 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 eleventh youngest skewing sports show.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 19.5% in overall viewership and down 23.1% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 12.5% compared to the same week last year.

More on AEW Battle of the Belts IV Viewership for October 7th

As noted before, AEW’s Battle of the Belts IV special on October 7th drew 317,000 viewers, a 0.10 key demographic rating, and a #37 key demographic ranking on TNT.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Battle of the Belts IV had 134,000 viewers for its key demographic viewership that night.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the College football game of Houston vs. Memphis drew 699,000 viewers on ESPN2.

AEW Battle of the Belts IV quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 330,000 overall viewers and 133,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW All-Atlantic Championship match of Trent Beretta vs. PAC (c))
2Q – 322,000 overall viewers and 134,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the AEW All-Atlantic Championship match and post-match brawl with Orange Cassidy, JAS backstage segment, Claudio Castagnoli video promo segment, and the start of the TBS Championship match of Willow Nightingale vs. Jade Cargill (c))
3Q – 327,000 overall viewers and 139,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the TBS Championship match and post-match angle with Nyla Rose & Vickie Guerrero, and the start of the ROH World Tag Team Championship match of Gates of Agony vs. FTR (c))
4Q – 288,000 overall viewers and 130,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the ROH World Tag Team Championship match and post-match brawl with Brian Cage, Wardlow, & Samoa Joe)