More on AEW Dynamite Week 176 Viewership – Feb. 22, 2023, Rampage Week 79 – Feb. 17, 2023

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for February 22nd

The February 22nd 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 1,028,000 viewers and a 0.35 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 1st place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases this week was due to the lack of sports competition from the NBA that night and the very large gain from their male key demographic viewership group, which was up 41.8% compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the large gain from their younger key demographic viewership and Over 50 viewership groups, which were up 43.8% and 13.5% respectively compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that AEW’s overall viewership was the largest since their October 5, 2022 show and their key demographic viewership was the largest since their September 21, 2022 show.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the College basketball game of Kentucky vs. Florida drew 1,013,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Notre Dame vs. North Carolina drew 842,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Alabama vs. South Carolina drew 595,000 viewers on ESPN2, the College basketball game of Temple vs. Cincinnati drew 171,000 viewers on ESPN2, the NHL game of Chicago Blackhawks vs. Dallas Stars drew 194,000 viewers on TNT, the Women’s soccer game of United States vs. Brazil drew 454,000 viewers on TNT, Sistas Series drew 956,000 viewers on BET, Challenge: Ride or Dies drew 518,000 viewers on MTV, Vanderpump Rules drew 667,000 viewers on Bravo, and Moonshiners: American Spirit drew 623,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 455,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 had 134,000 viewers (up 44.1%), Females 18-34 had 63,000 viewers (up 43.2%), Males 35-49 had 201,000 viewers (up 40.6%), and Females 35-49 had 57,000 viewers (down 20.7%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 335,000 male viewers and 120,000 female viewers for a split of 73.6% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, five of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,084,000 viewers for their fourth quarter while their quarter low was at 933,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 0.9% in overall viewership but down 12% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 9.4% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 1,083,000 overall viewers and 452,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW All-Atlantic Championship match of Wheeler Yuta vs. Orange Cassidy (c))
• 2Q – 1,054,000 overall viewers and 446,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the All-Atlantic Championship match and post-match with Claudio Castagnoli, the Evil Uno & Hangman Adam Page backstage segment, and the first half of the Ricky Starks & Chris Jericho promo segment)
• 3Q – 1,069,000 overall viewers and 444,000 key demo viewers (Latter half of the Starks & Jericho promo segment with Peter Avalon, and the start of The Acclaimed vs. Lee Moriarty & Big Bill match)
• 4Q – 1,084,000 overall viewers and 466,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of The Acclaimed vs. Moriarty & Big Bill match, the Christian Cage & Jack Perry brawl segment, the Samoa Joe & Wardlow video promo segment, and the Saraya vs. Skye Blue match and post-match with Ruby Soho, Jamie Hayter, & Britt Baker)
• 5Q – 1,051,000 overall viewers and 475,000 key demo viewers (Bryan Danielson & MJF promo & brawl segment,
• 6Q – 982,000 overall viewers and 453,000 key demo viewers (Jamie Hayter backstage interview segment and first half of the Tag Team Battle Royale match)
• 7Q – 933,000 overall viewers and 444,000 key demo viewers (Latter half of the Tag Team Battle Royale match, House of Black video promo segment, and the Tony Khan & Adam Cole AEW All-Access announcement segment)
• 8Q – 964,000 overall viewers and 452,000 key demo viewers (Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, Sonjay Dutt, & The Gunns backstage segment and the Evil Uno vs. Jon Moxley match & post-match brawl with Dark Order, Blackpool Combat Club, & Hangman Page)

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for February 17th

The February 17th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership, key demographic ratings, and key demographic rankings. That week’s show was notable for being the Rampage Slam Dunk special and airing at an earlier start time of 7PM EST due to TNT’s NBA All-Star 2023 commitments.

AEW Rampage drew 287,000 viewers and a 0.07 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 59th place.

Detailed viewership and key demographic breakdowns were not available in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter due to the show had failed to rank in the Top 50 shows for that night.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to the show started at a much lower than usual viewership and the very large decline from their overall key demographic viewership group, which was down 43.9% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that another reason was due to the show’s earlier start time but prior Rampage shows that aired outside of its normal timeslot had managed to at least draw over 400,000 viewers. That week’s show reportedly generated the lowest ever overall viewership and key demographic viewership for a Rampage show in Rampage series history.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA All-Star Celebrity 2023 game drew 1,395,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Dayton vs. Loyola Chicago drew 193,000 viewers on ESPN2, the NASCAR Trucks Racing: Daytona 2023 racing event drew 1,027,000 viewers on FS1, and Patrick Star Show drew 246,000 viewers on Nickelodeon.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 87,000 viewers. Meltzer 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 nineteenth youngest skewed sports show, behind eleven NBA games, five soccer games, and two NHL games.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 39.1% in overall viewership and down 65% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 308,000 overall viewers and 92,000 key demo viewers (AEW World Trios Championship match of AR Fox & Top Flight vs. The Elite (c))
• 2Q – 272,000 overall viewers and 87,000 key demo viewers (AEW World Trios Championship post-match angle with House of Black, The Gunns backstage interview segment, the Orange Cassidy & Wheeler Yuta backstage segment, and the bulk of the Ricky Starks vs. Daniel Garcia match)
• 3Q – 278,000 overall viewers and 85,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Starks vs. Garcia match & post-match with Action Andretti & Sammy Guevara, the Evil Uno video promo segment, and the TBS Championship match of VertVixen vs. Jade Cargill (c))
• 4Q – 289,000 overall viewers and 83,000 key demo viewers (Dustin Rhodes vs. Swerve Strickland match and post-match brawl with Parker Boudreaux & Keith Lee)