Originally published at AEW Dynamite remains #1 on cable, Rhodes to the Top at #16
AEW Dynamite maintained its top position on Wednesday’s cable rankings while experiencing a decrease.
The September 29th episode from Rochester averaged 1,152,000 viewers and 588,000 (0.45) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
Once again, Dynamite topped MTV’s Challenge (0.40) and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (0.38) on top of Wednesday’s cable chart.
The viewership average fell by 9.5 percent while the 18-49 demo figure was down by 6 percent from last week’s big show at Arthur Ashe Stadium that featured Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson. This week’s episode was dedicated to the late Brodie Lee and featured Miro defending the TNT Championship against Sammy Guevara and Adam Cole facing Jungle Boy in the top matches.
This week’s episode saw a notable decline in AEW’s female audience as women 18-49 dropped by 21 percent and females 12-34 declined by 33 percent.
That was offset by their male audience staying steady in 18-49s with 0.67 and topping Raw on Monday night, which did 0.59 in the same demo. AEW’s male 12-34 demo increased by 3 percent this week and beat Raw’s 0.24.
In the overall 18-49 demo, Raw did beat Dynamite this week with 621,000 to 588,000 viewers.
Dynamite was #1 on cable on Wednesday in 18-49, males 18-49 (which more than doubled MTV’s The Challenge at 0.31 in second place), and males 12-34. AEW was #2 in adults 25-54 behind Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
In the month of September, Dynamite averaged 1,193,000 viewers and 591,000 in 18-49, which was both up 32 percent from September 2020. The 2020 episodes took place at Daily’s Place during the pandemic whereas this year features live crowds as the company has resumed touring.
Wednesday also saw the debut of “Rhodes to the Top” which premiered immediately after Dynamite on TNT. The first episode averaged 422,000 viewers and 217,000 (0.17) in 18-49, finishing 16th for the night on cable.
The reality series saw a closer range of male and female viewers with 0.23 among men 18-49 and 0.12 for women in the same demo. In adults 18-34, they finished at 0.10. Males 12-34 did 0.12 while females in the same demo did 0.05.
In the key demos on Showbuzz Daily, Rhodes to the Top beat NXT in each category except adults over 50 and total viewers.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos for AEW Dynamite and Rhodes to the Top as well as comparisons to WWE Raw and NXT to get a sense of how the shows performed:
ADULTS 18-49
AEW Dynamite: 0.45 (-6 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.48
Rhodes to the Top: 0.17
NXT: 0.14
FEMALES 18-49
AEW Dynamite: 0.23 (-21 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.36
Rhodes to the Top: 0.12
NXT: 0.09
MALES 18-49
AEW Dynamite: 0.67 (Even)
WWE Raw: 0.59
Rhodes to the Top: 0.23
NXT: 0.20
ADULTS 18-34
AEW Dynamite: 0.24 (-23 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.27
Rhodes to the Top: 0.10
NXT: 0.06
FEMALES 12-34
AEW Dynamite: 0.12 (-33 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.20
Rhodes to the Top: 0.05
NXT: 0.03
MALES 12-34
AEW Dynamite: 0.31 (+3 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.24
Rhodes to the Top: 0.12
NXT: 0.07
ADULTS 25-54
AEW Dynamite: 0.50 (-12 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.60
Rhodes to the Top: 0.20
NXT: 0.17
ADULTS 50+
AEW Dynamite: 0.44 (-12 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.86
Rhodes to the Top: 0.15
NXT: 0.39