SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Wednesday night’s (1/1) episode of AEW Dynamite on TBS averaged 588,000 viewers according to our source with access to the data, compared to 574,000 the prior week (on Christmas night) and the 625,000 the week before that. The current ten-week rolling average is 596,000.
One year ago this week, Dynamite drew 801,000 viewers. The ten-week rolling average a year ago was 826,000.
Two years ago this week, Dynamite drew 864,000. Then ten-week rolling average was 889,000.
In the key 18-49 demo, it drew a 0.16 rating, compared to 0.18 and 0.19 the prior two weeks. The ten-week rolling average is 0.18.
One year ago, it drew a 0.26 rating with a ten-week rolling average of 0.28.
Two years ago, it drew a 0.26 rating with a ten-week rolling average of 0.26.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
This week’s numbers are the first dataset when Dynamite was simulcast on Max. In our TwitterX Poll, 30 percent of our respondents who were watching Dynamite said they watched on Max instead of TBS even though they had access to TBS. If that extrapolates to the larger population, Dynamite would have drawn 764,000 if Max weren’t an option, which would have been the highest viewership since last July, but still fewer than the 801,000 the show drew one year ago on Jan. 2, 2024.
Our Twitter poll also indicated among those watching Dynamite, more than half overall were watching on Max rather than TBS (a mix of people without TBS access and some choosing Max over TBS despite having TBS access), a mix of those with and without TBS. Our TwitterX Poll, extrapolating the percentage votes compared to actual TBS viewership data, would indicate 1.352 million watched overall between TBS and Max.
It’s highly unlikely our unscientific TwitterX poll is anywhere near precisely representative of the total Dynamite viewership choices, but it does point toward a lot of new viewers this week watching Dynamite who don’t have access to TBS. It’s not clear yet whether reliable data will be available regarding Max viewership. AEW has not sent out a press release touting any internal data at this point. While TBS is available in around 71 million U.S. homes, Max’s subscriber base is more murky since some data includes HBO channel access through traditional cable and their sister streaming service Discovery+, but the Max streaming app is subscribed to in a maximum of around 50 million U.S. homes. It’s utilized by just a fraction of the homes that watch Netflix, probably in the 10-15 percent range of Netflix’s numbers.
Some people who sampled Dynamite on Max this week might switch back to TBS considering that many cable systems allow a viewer to fast-forward past commercial breaks if they start the show late or pause or rewind the live feed, unlike Max. With Max, a viewer had to watch commercials and has no way to fast-forward, even if they started the live show on delay or paused or rewound during the show. Max also doesn’t do double-box breaks with footage of the live action during commercials, whereas TBS does. That could actually help AEW avoid Max cannibalizing TBS viewership, although it’s not clear whether Warner Media Discovery has a preference whether fans watch on TBS or Max. AEW likely doesn’t care except for the fact that TBS viewership will be more widely reported.
So going forward, the value in the TBS viewership data is diminished without Max data being added to it, although relative viewership trends week to week and month to month will still be indicative of viewership satisfaction with the product, since people will largely settle into watching either on TBS and Max in a relative constant barring a sharp dropoff in cable subscribers or sharp increase in Max subscribers at any point. Eventually, it’s likely third-party independent ratings tracking services will track live viewership on streaming services as more content moves to streaming versus broadcast or traditional linear cable channels.
The announced matches and segments were…
- Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) vs. Rated FTR – Trios match
- “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Orange Cassidy
- Julia Hart vs. Jamie Hayter
- The Hurt Syndicate vs. The Acclaimed – Tag Team match
- Jeff Jarrett to make announcement regarding his future
Check out our RATINGS HEADQUARTERS PAGE for more ratings reports.
(You can always reach PWTorch editor Wade Keller at kellerwade@gmail.com. You can also send live event results and news tips to pwtorch@gmail.com. Also, we’re always looking for volunteer contributors to help us round out of coverage of the pro wrestling scene.)
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