More on AEW & NXT Week 165 Viewership – Dec. 6 & 7, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 68 – Dec. 2, 2022

Dec 10, 2022

More on WWE NXT Viewership for December 6th

The December 6th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large decline in overall viewership and a slight decline in key demographic rankings.

NXT drew 534,000 viewers and a 0.13 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 36th 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 stiff competition from news coverage of the 2022 Senate runoff election for Georgia and the large decline from their Over 50 demographic viewership group, which was down 25.6% compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the large decline from their male key demographic viewership group, which was down 15.4% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gains from their younger key demographic viewership and female key demographic viewership groups, which were up 11.1% and 28.3% respectively compared to last week’s show. NXT’s overall viewership for this week’s show reportedly was tied for the lowest of 2022 with only the May 10th show being lower at 533,000 viewers.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Los Angeles Lakers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers drew 1,371,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of Illinois vs. Texas drew 1,022,000 viewers on ESPN, Little People, Big World drew 1,362,000 viewers on TLC, Below Deck Adventure drew 486,000 viewers on Bravo, and Curse of Oak Island drew 2,425,000 viewers on History 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 7% in overall viewership but up 16.6% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 42.9% compared to the same week last year.

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for December 7th

The December 7th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a small decline in overall viewership but also gained a small increase in key demographic ratings and a slight increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 840,000 viewers and a 0.29 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 3rd place.

Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s mixed results this week was due to a serious feed issue affecting around 20.1% of homes that get TBS from Spectrum cable provider. This issue reportedly began during AEW’s lead-in programming Big Bang show and resulted in the feed picture to be frozen lasting until around 30 minutes into AEW’s show that night. Meltzer reported that this same issue also affected TNT, which caused that night’s NHL game to be around 40% lower in overall viewership and around 25% lower in key demographic viewership than usual as a result.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks drew 1,018,000 viewers on ESPN, the NHL game of Buffalo Sabres vs. Columbus Blue Jackets drew 219,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of UConn vs. Florida drew 315,000 viewers on ESPN2, the College basketball game of Navy vs. West Virginia drew 154,000 viewers on ESPNU, Challenge: Ride or Dies drew 563,000 viewers on MTV, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City drew 556,000 viewers on Bravo.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 381,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 3.8%, Females 18-34 was up 33.3%, Males 35-49 was up 18.4%, and Females 35-49 was up 4.6%. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 261,000 male viewers and 120,000 female viewers for a split of 68.5% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, none of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 910,000 viewers for their second quarter while their quarter low was at 769,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 3.7% in overall viewership and down 10.6% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 26.7% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 883,000 overall viewers and 377,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale match)
2Q – 910,000 overall viewers and 417,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale match and MJF & Rick Starks post-match promo, and the Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe video package)
3Q – 845,000 overall viewers and 392,000 key demo viewers (Jon Moxley backstage segment and the bulk of the TNT Championship match of Darby Allin vs. Samoa Joe (c))
4Q – 876,000 overall viewers and 419,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the TNT Championship match and post-match with Wardlow, the Orange Cassidy & Kip Sabian backstage segment, and the start of the Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. Jake Hager & Daniel Garcia match)
5Q – 882,000 overall viewers and 405,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Castagnoli & Yuta vs. Hager & Garcia match, the William Regal video and Jon Moxley’s promo segment, and the House of Black video promo segment)
6Q – 772,000 overall viewers and 331,000 key demo viewers (Jamie Hayter backstage segment and the bulk of the Baddies vs. Madison Rayne, Skye Blue, & Kiera Hogan match)
7Q – 769,000 overall viewers and 348,000 key demo viewers (Ending to the Baddies vs. Rayne, Blue, & Hogan match, the Saraya & Britt Baker backstage segment, and the start of the AEW World Tag Team Championship match of FTR vs. The Acclaimed (c))
8Q – 784,000 overall viewers and 356,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW World Tag Team Championship match and post-match with The Gunns)

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for December 2nd

The December 2nd 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.

AEW Rampage drew 361,000 viewers and a 0.08 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 60th place.

Due to that week’s show failing to rank in the Top 50 shows for the night, detailed viewership and key demographic breakdowns were not available in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to a weaker than usual lead-in programming and the very large declines suffered from their overall key demographic viewership and younger key demographic viewership groups, which were down 18.5% and 44.5% compared to the prior two week’s show for normal timeslot comparisons. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show managed to set all-time records for lowest ever viewership and lowest ever key demographic rating for a normal Rampage show in Rampage history. Meltzer also reported that week’s Rampage show viewership was also the second lowest ever in general for a Rampage show in Rampage history.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Chicago Bulls vs. Golden State Warriors drew 1,590,000 viewers on ESPN, the NBA game of Los Angeles Lakers vs. Milwaukee Bucks drew 1,431,000 viewers on ESPN, Gold Rush: White Water drew 915,000 viewers on Discovery Channel, On Patrol Live drew 783,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and 90 Day Fiance First Look drew 695,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 101,000 viewers.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 27.7% in overall viewership and down 58.1% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

1Q – 353,000 overall viewers and 112,000 key demo viewers (Darby Allin vs. Cole Karter match and the Keith Lee, Shane Taylor, & Swerve Strickland backstage segment)
2Q – 366,000 overall viewers and 100,000 key demo viewers (Dark Order & Los Ingobernables video promos segment, the The Acclaimed, Billy Gunn, The Gunns, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, & FTR segment, the Bunny & Hikaru Shida video segment, and the bulk of the Lethal & Jarrett vs. Private Party match)
3Q – 346,000 overall viewers and 88,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Lethal & Jarrett vs. Private Party match, the Saraya backstage interview segment, the Athena vs. Dani Mo match, and the Juice Robinson video promo segment)
4Q – 380,000 overall viewers and 102,000 key demo viewers (AEW All-Atlantic Championship Lumberjack match of QT Marshall vs. Orange Cassidy (c))