AEW Dynamite widens 18-49 demo ratings against NXT
(Heartland Newsfeed) — AEW and NXT showed strong audience increases Wednesday, mostly surrounding the important 18-49 demographic. However, despite a heavy hype of commercials during Monday Night Raw and a push for Charlotte Flair’s first appearance on NXT, the gap in favor of AEW continues to widen.
AEW Dynamite, which was built around Cody Rhodes taking ten lashes on national television from former friend and current rival Maxwell Jacob Friedman as one of the stipulations made for a future match, received a huge pop, according to Dave Meltzer at Wrestling Observer.
Dynamite brought in 928,000 viewers and an 0.36 rating among 18-49, a 12 percent increase from last week and a six percent hike among the key demographics.
NXT earned 770,000 viewers and a 0.22 rating, an 8.1 percent increase, unchanged among the key demo.
In the key 18-49 demo, AEW had 468,000 viewers compared to NXT’s 288,000, with the edge going to AEW in each age group within the demo. Women ages 18-34 were tuning in to Dynamite 56,000 to NXT’s 32,000, while men in the same demo were tuning in 101,000 to NXT’s 64,000.
Among women 35-49, AEW had more viewership – 90,000 to NXT’s 64,000 – and men in the same demo were watching AEW over NXT in a nearly 2-to-1 margin, 221,000 to 128,000.
AEW viewership more than doubled NXT’s viewership among teenagers, while NXT remained well ahead in viewership by TV watchers over 50, despite strong viewership on both programs with viewership increasing.
Both programs performed strongly despite competing with the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump. Dynamite started at #3 on the night among the 18-49 demo, later falling to #11. NXT finished at #34.
Next week: AEW Dynamite will be live from the HEB Center in the greater Austin, Tex. metro area (Cedar Park) as the road to AEW Revolution continues. Tickets are now available for the Dynamite broadcasts from UWM Panther Arena in Milwaukee on April 1 and from St. Louis University’s Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis on April 8. Ticket sales will go live on Valentine’s Day, February 14, for AEW Double or Nothing as it returns to Sin City live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, May 23. NXT still isn’t moving venues except for special events and will be live from Full Sail University in Orlando.
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.
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