More on AEW Dynamite Week 185 Viewership – Apr. 26, 2023, Rampage Week 88 – Apr. 22, 2023

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for April 26th

The April 26th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain a small increase in overall viewership but suffered a slight decline in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 863,000 viewers and a 0.28 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 9th 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 weaker than usual competition from news programming from FOX News over the fallout of the firing of Tucker Carlson, which saw a drop of over 1.3 million viewers compared to last week’s head-to-head competition. Another reason reportedly was due to the large increases from their male key demographic viewership, older key demographic viewership, and Over 50 viewership groups, which were up 11.9%, 8.5%, and 8.3% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the declines from their female key demographic viewership and younger key demographic viewership groups, which were down 23.9% and 7.4% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly also helped offset the very stiff competition from the NBA and NHL Playoffs that night.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 5 of Los Angeles Lakers vs. Memphis Grizzles drew 3,891,000 viewers on TNT, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 5 of Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat drew 934,000 viewers on NBA TV, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 5 of New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers drew 595,000 viewers on NBA TV, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 5 of Florida Panthers vs. Boston Bruins drew 1,469,000 viewers on ESPN, the MLB simulcast games of San Diego vs. Chicago Cubs and Washington vs. New York Mets drew 192,000 viewers on MLB Network, Vanderpump Rules drew 1,159,000 viewers on Bravo, Dr. Pimple Popper drew 1,198,000 viewers on TLC, and Moonshiners drew 468,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 369,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 264,000 male viewers (up 11.9%) and 105,000 female viewers (down 23.9%) for a split of 71.5% 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 923,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 774,000 viewers for their eighth quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 6.3% in overall viewership and down 13% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 5.3% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 923,000 overall viewers and 382,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the AEW International Championship match of Bandido vs. Orange Cassidy (c))
• 2Q – 896,000 overall viewers and 380,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the AEW International Championship match, the Adam Cole, Cassidy, & Bandido backstage interview segment, the Jungle Boy Jack Perry & Darby Allin backstage interview segment, and the start of the Jeff Jarrett vs. Dax Harwood match)
• 3Q – 844,000 overall viewers and 361,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Jarrett vs. Harwood match, the Owen Cup Foundation 2023 Tournament announcement segment, and the Wardlow vs. local talent match)
• 4Q – 832,000 overall viewers and 373,000 key demo viewers (Arn Anderson promo segment and confrontation with Christian & Luchasaurus, the MJF & Sammy Guevara backstage interview segment, RJ City backstage promo & brawl with Blackpool Combat Club segment, and the start of the Guevara vs. Darby Allin match)
• 5Q – 890,000 overall viewers and 388,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Guevara vs. Allin match and post-match brawl with MJF & Jack Perry)
• 6Q – 864,000 overall viewers and 389,000 key demo viewers (MJF & Guevara backstage segment, the Adam Cole & Chris Jericho promo segment and brawl with JAS, Orange Cassidy, Bandido, & Roderick Strong, and the QTV video segment)
• 7Q – 884,000 overall viewers and 373,000 key demo viewers (TBS Championship match of Taya Valkyrie vs. Jade Cargill (c), the Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter backstage promo segment, and the Jay White & Juice Robinson video promo segment)
• 8Q – 774,000 overall viewers and 328,000 key demo viewers (Kenny Omega & Konosuke Takeshita vs. The Butcher & The Blade and post-match brawl with BCC)

---

More on AEW Rampage Viewership for April 22nd

The April 22nd episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a very large decline in overall viewership and key demographic rankings and a large decline in key demographic ratings. That week’s show was notable at airing at a Saturday night due to NHL Playoffs coverage on TNT.

AEW drew 341,000 viewers and a 0.12 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 26th 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 AEW’s declines that week was due to a combo of the show being preempted to a different night and last week’s viewership being much higher than usual due to the very large boost from NBA Playoffs lead-in viewership.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 3 of Memphis Grizzles vs. Los Angeles Lakers drew 4,226,000 viewers on ESPN, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 3 of Milwaukee Bucks vs. Miami Heat drew 3,197,000 viewers on ESPN, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 3 of Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning drew 1,109,000 viewers on TBS, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 3 of Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken drew 860,000 viewers on TBS, the MLB simulcast games of St. Louis vs. Seattle and Kansas City vs. Los Angeles Angels drew 103,000 viewers on MLB Network, the Liga MX game of America vs. UNAM drew 327,000 viewers on TUDN, On Patrol Live drew 886,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and Ancient Aliens Special drew 545,000 viewers on History Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 150,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership skew was 91,000 male viewers (down 50%) and 59,000 female viewers (down 35.9%) for a split of 60.7% in favor of males. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show nor Dynamite show ranked in the Top 10 youngest skewing sports shows for the week nor were either anywhere close to it. Meltzer reported that week’s Dynamite show managed to be ranked higher than WWE’s RAW show breaking RAW’s streak at one week.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 28.4% in overall viewership and down 36.8% in key demographic viewership.