More on AEW Dynamite Week 186 Viewership – May 3, 2023, Rampage Week 89 – Apr. 28, 2023

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for May 3rd

The May 3rd episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership but gained a slight increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 776,000 viewers and a 0.28 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 8th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s decline this week was due to the large decline from their Over 50 viewership group, which was down 17.9% compared to last week, and the weaker than usual viewership for the start of the show. Another reason reportedly was due to the decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 4.5% compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gains from their older key demographic viewership group, which was up 5.4% compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that AEW’s overall viewership was its lowest since the June 15, 2022 show.

In terms of head-to-head, the 2023 NBA Playoffs Game 2 of Philadelphia 76ers vs. Boston Celtics drew 4,512,000 viewers on TNT, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 1 of Edmonton Oilers vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights drew 1,313,000 viewers on ESPN, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 1 of new Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes drew 1,297,000 viewers on ESPN, the MLB simulcast games of Toronto vs. Boston and Cleveland vs. New York Yankees drew 242,000 viewers on MLB TV, Vanderpump Rules drew 1,412,000 viewers on Bravo, Dr. Pimple Popper drew 1,147,000 viewers on TLC, and Moonshiners drew 435,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 371,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 had 107,000 viewers, Females 18-34 had 34,000 viewers, Males 35-49 had 164,000 viewers, and Females 35-49 had 66,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 271,000 male viewers (up 2.7%) and 100,000 female viewers (down 4.8%) for a split of 73% in favor of males. Meltzer reported that the reason for the higher than usual male split very likely would be attributed to AEW’s decline of their female key demographic viewership to Vanderpump Rules during its current season.

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 895,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 692,000 viewers for their seventh and eighth quarters each.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 6% in overall viewership and down 11.9% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 16.6% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 895,000 overall viewers and 416,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Orange Cassidy, Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, & Bandido vs. Jericho Appreciation Society)
• 2Q – 804,000 overall viewers and 387,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Cassidy, Cole, Strong, & Bandido vs. JAS match, the Jungle Boy Jack Perry & Darby Allin backstage interview segment, the Chris Jericho, Cole, & Britt Baker backstage segment, and the Black Pool Combat Club backstage segment)
• 3Q – 824,000 overall viewers and 390,000 key demo viewers (Saraya vs. Willow Nightingale match and post-match brawl with Ruby Soho, Hikaru Shida, Britt Baker, & Jamie Hayter, and the House of Black video promo segment)
• 4Q – 802,000 overall viewers and 380,000 key demo viewers (Tres de Mayo Trios Battle Royal match)
• 5Q – 766,000 overall viewers and 373,000 key demo viewers (MJF & Sammy Guevara backstage interview segment, the Kenny Omega & Don Callis backstage promo segment, and the Wardlow vs. Logan Laroux match and post-match with Christian Cage & Luchasaurus)
• 6Q – 733,000 overall viewers and 367,000 key demo viewers (Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh, Mark Briscoe, & Papa Briscoe farm segment and the Ricky Starks vs. Juice Robinson match)
• 7Q – 692,000 overall viewers and 329,000 key demo viewers (The Starks vs. Robionson post-match brawl with Jay White, the Matt Hardy video promo segment, and the Jack Perry, Darby Allin, & MJF backstage segment)
• 8Q – 692,000 overall viewers and 322,000 key demo viewers (Sammy Guevara & MJF vs. Allin & Perry match and post-match angle)

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for April 28th

The April 28th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a small decline in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings. That week’s show was notable for airing at an earlier start time of 6:30PM EST slot due to TNT’s 2023 NHL Playoffs commitments on the network.

AEW drew 298,000 viewers and a 0.09 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 31st place.

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to the show airing outside of its normal time slot and the large declines from all of their demographic viewership groups with Teenagers viewership down 28.6%, younger key demographic viewership down 12.5%, older key demographic viewership down 31.3%, and Over 50 viewership down 12.5% compared to the prior week.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2023 NFL Draft drew 989,000 viewers on NFL Network, the 2023 NHL Playoffs Game 6 of Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers drew 647,000 viewers on TBS, and the MLB simulcast games of Kansas City vs. Minnesota and Seattle vs. Toronto drew 110,000 viewers on MLB TV.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 117,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership skew was 58,000 male viewers (down 36.3%) and 59,000 female viewers (equal) for a split of 50.4% in favor of females. Meltzer reported that this might have been the first time ever that AEW’s female key demographic viewership was higher than their male key demographic viewership for a show in company history. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage did not rank in the youngest skewing sports shows for the week while that week’s Dynamite show was the 30th youngest skewing show, behind three 2023 NFL Draft shows, eleven NBA Playoff games, twelve NHL Playoff games, two Formula 1 races, and one MLB game.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 35.8% in overall viewership and down 31.6% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 22.2% compared to the same week last year. Meltzer reported that one main reason for the large declines was due to last year’s show had aired at its regular 10PM EST Friday night time slot.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 293,000 overall viewers and 121,000 key demo viewers (Ricky Starks & Shawn Spears vs. Juice Robinson & Jay White match and the Hardy Boys, HOOK, Isiah Cassidy, & The Firm backstage segment)
• 2Q – 291,000 overall viewers and 117,000 key demo viewers (Naturally Limitless vs. Brady Pierce & Carlie James match and post-match angle with Mogul Affiliates, the Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo backstage segment, and the bulk of the Anna Jay A.S. vs. Ashley D’Amboise match)
• 3Q – 275,000 overall viewers and 108,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Jay vs. D’Amboise match and post-match brawl with Julia Hart, the Saraya, Ruby Soho, & Toni Storm backstage promo segment, and The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Cameron Stewart, Ryzin, & jobber Trios match)
• 4Q – 33,000 overall viewers and 136,000 key demo viewers (Cash Wheeler vs. Jay Lethal match and post-match angle)