SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
AEW Dynamite rebounded to nearly 1 million viewers after dropping to just 822,000, well below 1.4 million viewers for the premiere episode. Meanwhile, NXT on USA dipped from last week but remained in what is considered a typical range for them. AEW drew 957,000 viewers and a 0.61 rating among live and same-night-DVR viewership while NXT drew 750,000 viewers and a 0.58 rating. Excluding the show that went up against the World Series game seven two weeks ago, NXT has averaged 753,000 viewers head-to-head with Dynamite, so this week’s figure is the very definition of typical.
AEW outdrew NXT by 207,000 viewers this week. Last week they were in a virtual tie with 813,000 for NXT and 822,000 for AEW. This week AEW outdrew NXT by 22 percent. NXT had closed the percentage different in total viewership each week they went head-to-head into a virtual tie last week; this week NXT re-took a strong lead.
AEW retook a commanding lead in the key adult demos, including 0.43 to 0.20 in the M18-34 demo and 0.55 to 0.32 in the M18-49 demo and 0.55 to 0.25 among all adults 18-49. Last week NXT had closed that gap. This week it’s back to where it had been the prior weeks.
The AEW rating in the 18-49 adult demo landed Dynamite in the top five cable shows for Wednesday night, behind two NBA games on ESPN, plus “South Park” on Comedy Central and “American Horror Story” on FX. NXT finished no. 22 in Wednesday night cable show rankings.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected from an earlier version which indicated AEW drew a series-low viewership last week. Two weeks ago was the series low viewership, up against the World Series game seven. Last week drew the lowest viewership otherwise.
Frankly, I thought the first thirty or so minutes of AEW sucked. It did get better at the end, especially when Jericho went ape shit over losing!!!