More on AEW Dynamite Week 188 Viewership – May 17, 2023, Rampage Week 91 – May 13, 2023

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for May 17th

The May 17th episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a small decline in key demographic ratings but also gained a slight increase in key demographic rankings.

AEW drew 814,000 viewers and a 0.28 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 7th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to a combination of stiff competition from the NBA Playoffs and Vanderpump Rules’ season finale show and the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership and older key demographic viewership groups, which were down 14.4% and 12% receptively compared to last week’s show. Meltzer reported that while its impact likely would have been not enough to cause any significant changes and minor at best, AEW’s broadcast of their show on YouTube TV was affected by service issues that impacted several of their television markets across the United States.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the NBA Playoffs Game 1 of Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics drew 5,945,000 viewers on TNT, Vanderpump Rules drew 1,885,000 viewers on Bravo, and Dr. Pimple Popper drew 1,234,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 368,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 258,000 male viewers (down 14.9%) and 110,000 female viewers (down 8.3%) for a split of 70.1% 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 908,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 753,000 viewers for their seventh quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 11.3% in overall viewership and down 14.6% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 3.9% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 908,000 overall viewers and 377,000 key demo viewers (Wardlow, Christian Cage, & Luchasaurus promo & brawl segment and the bulk of the Darby Allin & Orange Cassidy vs. Lee Moriarty & Big Bill match)
• 2Q – 876,000 overall viewers and 373,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Allin & Cassidy vs. Moriarty & Big Bill match, the Young Bucks & Blackpool Combat Club backstage brawl segment, the Wardlow & Arn Anderson backstage promo segment, and the Sammy Guevara vs. Exodus Prime match)
• 3Q – 832,000 overall viewers and 384,000 key demo viewers (Guevara post-match promo segment, the FTR and Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Satnam Singh, & Karen Jarrett brawl segment, the Datby Allin backstage interview segment, and the start of the Hikaru Shida & Britt Baker vs. The Outcasts match)
• 4Q – 762,000 overall viewers and 345,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Shida & Baker vs. Outcasts match, the Orange Cassidy backstage interview segment, and the Tony Khan AEW Collision announcement segment)
• 5Q – 816,000 overall viewers and 380,000 key demo viewers (Falls Count Anywhere match of Chris Jericho vs. Roderick Strong)
• 6Q – 799,000 overall viewers and 367,000 key demo viewers (RUSH vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry match and post-match brawl with Guevara & Allin)
• 7Q – 753,000 overall viewers and 354,000 key demo viewers (MJF backstage interview segment and the bulk of the Ricky Starks vs. Jay White match)
• 8Q – 769,000 overall viewers and 364,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Starks vs. White match and the Don Callis promo segment & brawl with The Elite, BCC, and Hangman Adam Page)

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for May 13th

The May 13th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in key demographic rankings and a slight decline in overall viewership and key demographic rankings. That week’s show was notable for being preempted from its normal Friday timeslot to a Saturday timeslot due to TNT’s 2023 NHL Playoffs commitments on the network.

AEW drew 284,000 viewers and a 0.07 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 46th place.

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reason for AEW’s declines that week was due to a combination of the night change for its airing and the continued bouncing around from its normal timeslot due to NBA and NHL Playoffs commitments on TNT in recent weeks. Another reason reportedly was due to the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership and older key demographic viewership, which were down 60% and 27% respectively compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s show managed to draw the lowest ever viewership for a Rampage show in Rampage series history when including both its normal and preempted timeslots.

In terms of head-to-head competition, Top Ranked Boxing drew 714,000 viewers on ESPN, the Liga MX game of America vs. San Luis drew 365,000 viewers on TUDN, the Liga MX game of Monterrey vs. Santos drew 336,000 viewers on FOX Deportes, the College Softball game of Utah vs. UCLA drew 224,000 viewers on ESPN2, On Patrol Live drew 897,000 viewers on REELZ Channel, and House Hunters International drew 969,000 on Home & Garden TV.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 91,000 viewers. Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership skew was 65,000 male viewers (down 16.7%) and 26,000 female viewers (down 43.5%) for a split of 71.4% in favor of males. Meltzer also 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 sixth youngest skewing show, behind four soccer games and one NHL Playoff game.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 16.5% in overall viewership and down 42.4% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was down 83.3% compared to the same week last year. Meltzer reported that last year’s show took place at its usual Friday night but at an earlier start time of 5:30PM EST.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 388,000 overall viewers and 129,000 key demo viewers (The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Kip Sabian, The Butcher, & The Blade match
• 2Q – 276,000 overall viewers and 81,000 key demo viewers (Toni Storm vs. Allysin Kay & post-match The Outcasts spray paint attack, The Gunns & Ethan Page backstage promo segment, and the start of the Kyle Fletcher vs. Action Andretti match)
• 3Q – 243,000 overall viewers and 78,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Fletcher vs. Andretti match, and the Hardys, Isiah Kassidy, & The Gunns backstage segment)
• 4Q – 229,000 overall viewers and 74,000 key demo viewers (Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Brian Cage & Swerve Strickland match & post-match brawl with Gates of Agony, Keith Lee, & Dustin Rhodes brawl)