AEW Dynamite viewership recedes to lowest number in over a month, key metrics on gap between AEW and NXT, demo info

If the narrative last week was that AEW Dynamite was on an upward trajectory aiming to overtake WWE Monday Night Raw as the top pro wrestling show on cable in key metrics while NXT was on the decline to irrelevancy or upheaval, this week’s turned that narrative around.

The Aug. 10 NXT drew the best live and same-night viewership total since May 4 while last night’s AEW Dynamite drew the lowest viewership since July 7. AEW’s 979,000 viewership total is still well above NXT’s 751,000, but short of the two-to-one margin of the last two weeks (when NXT was moved to SyFy due to USA’s Olympic coverage).

The average Dynamite viewership the last four weeks was 1.095 million. This week’s number is 116,000 below that number, more than a 10 percent drop.

The dropoff showed up in the 18-49 key demographic number, drawing 0.35 this week, down from 0.46 last week. (Raw drew a 0.49 in that demo this week.)

The male 18-49 demo dropped from 0.62 to 0.51. (Raw drew a 0.62 in that demo this week.) The younger male demo, 18-34, actually drew from 0.28 to 0.33. (Raw drew a 0.29 this week in that demo.)

AEW Dynamite was still no. 1 on cable among all shows in the 18-49 demo.

The average viewership lead for AEW over NXT the four weeks before NXT’s two weeks on SyFy was 305,000. This week’s difference was 228,000. The average difference in March when both sshows were head-to-head on Wednesday nights was merely 118,000. This week’s number could be a sign of a closing of the gap or a one-week blip. Certainly the anticipated arrivals of C.M. Punk, Bryan Danielson, and perhaps Adam Cole could spark another viewership surge.

We have updated 3-day and 7-day viewership totals, which is part of our VIP-exclusive ad-free version of PWTorch. Learn about the vast list of unmatched VIP benefits and subscribe HERE.