AEW Dynamite secures second week victory over NXT despite viewer decline
BOSTON (Heartland Newsfeed) — Despite a decline in cable viewership as a result of the 2019 MLB Playoffs, AEW was able to top WWE NXT for the second consecutive week in a row.
Dynamite was live from the Agganis Arena in Boston for its second live television broadcast. NXT was live from Full Sail University and hasn’t reported any plans to film elsewhere as of publication.
Dynamite received a viewership of 1.018 million viewers, a 28 percent drop overall from its series premiere on TNT, which secured a little more than 1.4 million viewers. NXT would post viewership of 790,000 viewers, an 11 percent overall drop from the previous week.
The decline was a result of competing against Major League Baseball’s National League Divisional Series, which dominated television with 3.325 million views during the St. Louis Cardinals/Atlanta Braves matchup in the early game and 5.856 million during the late Los Angeles Dodgers/Washington Nationals matchup.
Among the key demographic of 18-49, AEW dominated in every single subcategory, despite a demographic drop of 32 percent — securing a 0.46 rating. NXT’s demo decline was also down 32 percent.
Demographics over 50 gave NXT a slim victory over AEW, 0.50 to 0.40.
While NXT was only broadcasting live on USA, AEW Dynamite was also simulcast on truTV. (Not sure if that was a one-off or this is something Turner Broadcasting and AEW management intends to do from now on, but only time will tell.) The truTV simulcast netted 122,000 viewers
Dynamite would finish eighth overall for the night among the 18-49 key demographics, while NXT would drop outside the top 25.
Viewership on most television markets for Wednesday’s broadcast were down between 10 and 44 percent from last week’s broadcast, with the exception of Houston and Charlotte, N.C. Houston held steady with their 0.9 share, while Charlotte’s share rose 20 percent to a 2.4 share. Chicago (0.9) and Atlanta (0.9) would drop 10 percent, Minneapolis (0.7) 13 percent, Detroit (1.1) 21 percent, Washington DC (0.4) 43 percent and Dallas (0.5) 44 percent.
Viewership would increase in some markets for Dynamite for the replay, while viewership declined or held steady from last week. Viewership in Atlanta and Minneapolis rose 100 percent (0.4), Chicago (0.6) and Dallas (0.1) held steady and Washington DC (0.1), Houston and Detroit (0.3) and Charlotte (0.7) had declined between 13 and 63 percent.
Next week
NXT: WWE NXT has not moved production elsewhere and will still remain live from Full Sail University; Orlando, FL. No current details of the show are currently available.
AEW: The third live broadcast of AEW Dynamite will be live from the Liacouras Center at Temple University in the City of Brotherly Love — Philadelphia, PA. The show was previously labeled as sold out, but there are some last-minute tickets being made available, according to the venue’s box office.
The following are what’s confirmed for AEW Dynamite in Philadelphia (in no particular order):
Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
