More on AEW & NXT Week 159 Viewership – Oct. 25 & 26 2022, AEW Rampage Week 63 – Oct. 21, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for October 25th

The October 25th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain a large increase in overall viewership but suffered a small decline in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 716,000 viewers and a 0.15 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 19th 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 mixed results this week was due to the tougher than usual television competition that night and the large decline in their older key demographic viewership group, which was down 26.9% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly mostly offset the large gains from their younger key demographic viewership and Over 50 viewership groups, which were up 10% and 17.6% respectively compared to last week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Golden State Warriors vs. Phoenix Suns drew 2,318,000 viewers on TNT, the NBA game of Dallas Mavericks vs. New Orleans Pelicans drew 1,614,000 viewers on TNT, the NHL game of Colorado Avalanche vs. New York Rangers drew 750,000 viewers on ESPN, My Big Fat Fabulous Life drew 880,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Down Under drew 666,000 viewers on Bravo, and Deadliest Catch Viking drew 671,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 196,000 viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 4% in overall viewership and down 18.7% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was down 15.4% compared to the same week last year.

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More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for October 26th

The October 26th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain a very large increase in overall viewership, a large increase in key demographic ratings, and a small increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 997,000 viewers and a 0.32 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 5th place.

Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases this week was due to the large gains from their younger male key demographic and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were up 22.5% and 28.4% respectively compared to two week’s ago for normal show nights comparisons. Another reason reportedly was due to the gains from their Over 50 viewership group, which was up 4.5% compared to two week’s ago show. This reportedly offset the large declines from their younger female key demographic and older male key demographic viewership groups, which were down 25.4% and 7.6% respectively compared to two week’s ago show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Brooklyn Nets vs. Milwaukee Bucks drew 1,799,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL game of New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders drew 550,000 viewers on TNT, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 1,456,000 viewers on Bravo, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drew 632,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 419,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 22.5% (compared to two week’s ago show), Females 18-34 was down 25.4%, Males 35-49 was down 7.6%, and Females 35-49 was up 28.4%. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 280,000 male viewers and 139,000 female viewers for a split of 66.8% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, four out of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,076,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 906,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 6% in overall viewership but down 19.1% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 3% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 1,076,000 overall viewers and 477,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Chris Jericho & Daniel Garcia vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta match)
• 2Q – 1,075,000 overall viewers and 472,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Jericho & Garcia vs. Castagnoli & Yuta match, Blackpool Combat Club backstage segment, the Elite vignette segment, JAS backstage segment, and the start of the FTR vs. Swerve In Our Glory match)
• 3Q – 1,037,000 overall viewers and 443,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the FTR vs. Swerve In Our Glory match and post-match angle with The Gunns & The Acclaimed, and the Saraya & Britt Baker backstage segment)
• 4Q – 1,021,000 overall viewers and 445,000 key demo viewers (MJF & Stokely Hathaway promo segment, The Kingdom vs. WarJoe video package, and the start of the Bryan Danielson vs. Sammy Guevara match)
• 5Q – 982,000 overall viewers and 408,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Danielson vs. Guevara match and the Rey Fenix & Alex Abrahantes, Luchasaurus & Christian Cage, & Orange Cassidy backstage segment)
• 6Q – 927,000 overall viewers and 390,000 key demo viewers (Jamie Hayter vs. Riho match)
• 7Q – 906,000 overall viewers and 361,000 key demo viewers (Eddie Kingston backstage segment, the Darby Allin video promo segment, the Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, & Satnam Singh backstage segment, and the start of the AEW World Championship match of Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Jon Moxley (c))
• 8Q – 955,000 overall viewers and 351,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW World Championship match and post-match brawl with The Firm & MJF)

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for October 21st

The October 21st episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW gain a small increase in overall viewership but suffered a large decline in key demographic rankings and a small decline in key demographic ratings.

AEW Rampage drew 480,000 viewers and a 0.13 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 24th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reasons for AEW’s mixed results this week was due to stiff sports competition that night and the very large decline in their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 60% compared to the prior week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the large decline from their older key demographic viewership group, which was down 8.8% compared to the prior week’s show. This mostly offset the large increase from their Over 50 viewership group, which was up 33.3% compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the MLB 2022 Playoffs Game 3 of San Diego Padres vs. Philadelphia Phillies drew 4,881,000 viewers on FS1, the NBA game of Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors drew 1,913,000 viewers on ESPN, the College football game of Tulsa vs. Temple drew 502,000 viewers on ESPN2, Gold Rush: The Dirt drew 921,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, On Patrol Live drew 819,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and 90 Day Fiance First Look drew 622,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 173,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 120,000 male viewers and 53,000 female viewers for a split of 69.4% in favor of males. Meltzer also reported that week’s Rampage show did not rank in the Top Ten youngest skewing sports show for the week while that week’s Dynamite was the seventeenth youngest skewing sports show, behind nine NBA games and seven soccer-related games.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 9.9% in overall viewership and down 39.9% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 75% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 521,000 overall viewers and 194,000 key demo viewers (The Acclaimed vs. Varsity Athletes match)
• 2Q – 499,000 overall viewers and 178,000 key demo viewers (Eddie Kingston, Lucha Brothers, Ortiz, & PAC backstage segment, the HOOK vs. Ari Daivari match, the Ethan Page, Stokely Hathaway, & Matt Hardy backstage segment, and the start of the Willow Nightingale vs. Leila Grey match)
• 3Q – 454,000 overall viewers and 163,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Nightingale vs. Grey match and post-match stuff, the Jade Cargill & Nyla Rose promo segment and brawl with security, and the Orange Cassidy, 10, & RUSH pre-match interview segment)
• 4Q – 448,000 overall viewers and 158,000 key demo viewers (AEW All-Atlantic Championship match of 10 vs. RUSH vs. Cassidy (c))