Ratings Report: AEW and NXT back head-to-head on Wednesday, how viewership now compares to prior to timeslot bumps, AEW’s notable demo ranking

AEW Dynamite last night outdrew NXT on USA in live and same-night viewership by an 886,000 to 689,000 margin, a gap of 197,000. The average AEW lead in viewers in the five weeks before the four week stretch of weeks without head-to-head battles was 157,000. This indicates, with a mere one week sample size, that AEW benefited from having the audience to themselves the last two weeks on Wednesday nights despite being bumped from their usual timeslot the prior two weeks.

NXT drew an average of 842,000 viewers the last four weeks. The prior five weeks (July 15 to Aug. 12) it averaged 666,000. So it’s viewership this week is slightly above the prior average when head-to-head with AEW.

AEW averaged 878,000 the four weeks when it didn’t air opposite of NXT, and basically drew the same number this week of 886,000. However, it’s sharply down from last week’s 1,016,000 million viewers; AEW had a streak of four weeks of increased viewership, especially once it returned to the Wednesday timeslot the last two weeks without NXT airing head-to-head.

AEW averaged 822,000 the five weeks before the four week stretch of airing without NXT opposite of it, so like NXT, it has gained viewers compared to that prior period. NXT gained 23,000 over that five week average, while AEW gained 64,000.

The real headline for the night might be AEW’s no. 3 finish among all cable shows on Wednesday night in the 18-49 demographic with a 0.34 rating. (For comparison, Raw drew a 0.50 in that demo on Monday). That’s the highest placement for the show to date. It finished behind “Real Housewives” on Bravo and “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News and a slot ahead of “Hannity” on Fox News. Viewership for the Fox News programs were over 4.4 million each, while AEW was under 900,000. Demographically, though, AEW was competitive.

NXT finished at no. 31 among all Wednesday night cable shows with a 0.18 rating, just over half of AEW’s rating in that demo.

AEW drew a 0.31 in the male 18-34 demographic. Raw drew a 0.36 in that same demo. NXT trailed far behind with a 0.12 in that demographic.

RECOMMENDED: NXT and AEW each borrow each other’s viewers over the last month, details on how many viewers each show gained unopposed, other key metrics