AEW and NXT numbers drop and equal total viewers

General
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Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/12/aew-and-nxt-numbers-drop-and-equal-total-viewers/

Wednesday’s head-to-head programming between AEW and NXT saw an interesting outcome with each show doing identical figures in overall viewers.

Both shows averaged 778,000 viewers for their respective programs with AEW down 8.5% and NXT dropping 8% from last week.

For total viewers, it was AEW’s third-lowest to date trailing the October 30th and November 27th (Thanksgiving Eve) editions of Dynamite.

It was offset for AEW by winning all the key demos except for adults over 50 after NXT won three categories in last week’s programming.

With viewers in the 18-49 demo, AEW was 11th on the night among cable programming with a 0.28 and down 12.5% from last week. NXT did a 0.24 and dropped 17%.

In the key demos, AEW was down 27% among females 18-49, down 20% with males 12-34, and 18% among females 12-34.

The larger drops were experienced by NXT falling 33% with both females 18-49 and 12-34 while people 18-34 dropped 30% – the latter being a demo they edged over AEW last week by 0.01.

Between both shows, the only demo that didn’t fall was NXT’s over 50 audience that was identical to last week with a 0.38.

Here is the full breakdown:

PEOPLE 18-49
AEW: 0.28 (-12.5%)
NXT: 0.24 (-17%)

FEMALES 18-49
AEW: 0.16 (-27%)
NXT: 0.14 (-33%)

MALES 18-49
AEW: 0.40 (-2%)
NXT: 0.34 (-5.5%)

PEOPLE 18-34
AEW: 0.18 (-5%)
NXT: 0.14 (-30%)

FEMALES 12-34
AEW: 0.09 (-18%)
NXT: 0.08 (-33%)

MALES 12-34
AEW: 0.20 (-20%)
NXT: 0.17 (-15%)

PEOPLE 25-54
AEW: 0.32 (-9%)
NXT: 0.27 (-16%)

PEOPLE 50+
AEW: 0.29 (-6.5%)
NXT: 0.38 (Even)

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No massive competition or holidays to make excuses for.

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I feel like of AEW moved head to head with RAW they’d be experiencing a lot more growth than the stalemate they’ve found themselves in with NXT.

More people watching overall, and more eyeballs who might channel surf.

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Disco Inferno also said this.

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I’m not sure if there’s any real, contractual situation, but I doubt Tony Khan wants to go against the NFL due to his ownership of the Jaguars

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Via the Observer Newsletter

AEW in the head-to-head won the first six quarters and the only reason it was close was because of how strongly NXT won the main event segment with the three-way with Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Keith Lee overwhelming the Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz street fight by a 756,000 to 685,000 overall number, and then the overrun after AEW ended doing 881,000 viewers

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Oh shit. Nevermind then. Haha

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Well it was a hot main event and we already saw Bucks and LAX.

I don’t think the Bucks are a draw on the level of the big 3 in AEW. AEW comes to to
Jericho/Cody/Omega as per Dave based on numbers.

NXT I don’t think has stars on the level of those three. But they have better wrestling matchups that seem fresher so I think people tune in based on that

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Yeah it’s funny.

AEW is supposed to be anti main roster WWE. No corniness and better wrestling and storylines that are more traditional and more sports oriented. Like the NJPW of the west.

However that show is really NXT which is far closer to all those things than AEW. So running against NXT, the show it’s trying to be in some ways, probably isn’t as beneficial as directly against RAW where the difference in product is more apparent.

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I would love to see the TSN numbers for AEW but I know John has said they are hard to get.

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Are they usually in the 340k range? I think it’s higher percentage bc it’s harder to get NXT live in Canada

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I thought it was closer to 150/200, 340 seems really high. I wouldn’t compare NXT vs AEW ratings in Canada since there are so many different factors.

I’m just interested in pro wrestling audience in general for Canada.

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Yeah just checked. It seems
Last week was 115k on TSN for AEW. RAW is about 240k

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I admit, I watched the Challenge Final which aired at 9pm. It was second in the key demo though it did not do a big number (800k+); I think declining numbers for the Wednesday Night Wars is more a product of DVR/WWE Network viewship vs. Live. I know the T+7 numbers are difficult to come across but I watch NXT on delay, and lately have been catching AEW on record as I haven’t made it a point to be sitting watching live at 8pm for a few weeks now. Other stuff comes up, I know I can watch the shows later; it is not like the first few weeks when you felt these were major event programming.

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For me it’s about what’s more fast forwardable in terms of what I watch vs DVR.

I find NXT has less stuff that is fast forwardable in general. Although it has some dumb stuff like Breezango vs Singh’s those are just boring matches which still have a couple of redeeming parts.

The dumb comedy stuff is easier to fast forward bc it’s worthless to me on AEW. Also the women’s matches are horrid. So I just find I can condense it more