AEW Grand Slam tops cable, third highest figures for the program

Originally published at AEW Grand Slam tops cable, third highest figures for the program

In front of its largest attendance in history, AEW Dynamite pulled its third-highest viewership in the two-year history of the program.

The special “Grand Slam” edition of the program from Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday topped all cable programming for the night with 1,273,000 viewers and 627,000 (0.48) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.

The numbers represent Dynamite’s third-highest behind the October 2, 2019, premiere and the post-All Out show from September 8th this month. Dynamite was up 8 percent in viewers and 9 percent in 18-49 from last week’s show in Newark.

Dynamite was first among all cable programming topping Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (0.39), and The Challenge (0.36). AEW also won the night on cable with males 18-49, males 12-34, and adults 25-54.

Among network programming, it was a big night where The Masked Singer won the evening on FOX with 1.11 in 18-49 followed by Survivor on CBS with 1.06, Chicago PD at 0.87, and Chicago Fire at 0.86. In overall viewership, Chicago Fire led the way with 7,275,000 on NBC followed by Chicago MED and Chicago PD while Survivor averaged 6,249,000.

After two consecutive weeks where Dynamite edged out Raw in the 18-49 demo, Raw did top Dynamite this week with 642,000 viewers to Dynamite’s 627,000.

Dynamite did top Raw in males 18-49 (434,000 to 419,000) and males 35-49 (301,000 to 280,000), according to Brandon Thurston’s reporting.

AEW experienced growth with adults 18-34 improving 15.5 percent from last week followed by females 18-49 up by 13.5 percent, and females 12-34 jumping up by 12.5 percent. Dynamite also hit 0.50 in 50+, which is on the higher end of where AEW typically places in the older demo.

For the month of September, Dynamite is averaging 1,203,500 viewers and 592,000 in 18-49 over four weeks.

In Canada, Dynamite didn’t do a major number with 117,400 viewers and 70,900 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN 2. The show also didn’t face the regular competition from the Toronto Blue Jays, which played an afternoon game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The top two sports broadcasts for the day were the Jays vs. Rays and the CFL game between Hamilton and Ottawa. Among sports programming, AEW was sixth among overall viewers and third in the 25-54 demo behind the MLB and CFL games.

Including this week’s episode, Dynamite has averaged 115,000 viewers and 68,900 in 25-54 over the past four shows in Canada, so this week’s show was just about those markers.

Here is a breakdown of the key demos with comparisons to Raw and last week’s performance with data from Showbuzz Daily and Wrestlenomics:

ADULTS 18-49
This week: 0.48 (+9 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.49

FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.29 (+13.5 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.34

MALES 18-49
This week: 0.67 (+7 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.65

ADULTS 18-34
This week: 0.31 (+15.5 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.32

FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.18 (+12.5 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.23

MALES 12-34
This week: 0.30 (+7 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.34

ADULTS 25-54
This week: 0.57 (+9.5 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.63

ADULTS 50+
This week: 0.50 (+4 percent)
WWE Raw: 0.89

The Canada thing I remember even when WCW was winning and Eric was on OTR. He was still losing to WWE in Canada because they have a stranglehold of popularity here and it’s tougher to breakthrough. The WWE always seems to do well here for some reason