Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/10/22/aew-stays-even-in-demo-falls-in-viewers-against-world-series-cable-news/
AEW Dynamite took a hit in its viewership on Wednesday going against Game 2 of the World Series and a big night of cable news programming while NXT finished outside the top fifty cable programs.
Dynamite fell 9 percent in viewership with 753,000 viewers on TNT and stayed even with a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic finishing 13th among cable programming. AEW’s drop in cable rankings was entirely based on the cable news programs that represent 11 of the 12 programs that topped AEW except for The Real Housewives of Orange County.
The 0.30 demo rating for AEW on back-to-back weeks in its lowest in the category since July.
NXT finished #56 for the evening with a 0.16 in the demo and 644,000 viewers on the USA Network. NXT fell 6 percent in the demo rating and dropped 1 percent from last week’s viewership.
Cable news programming was a culprit, but the major sports competition was Game 2 of the World Series between the L.A. Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays. The overnight figure for the game is listed at 8,950,000 viewers on Fox with a 2.3 rating with adults 18-49. If the series goes to a seventh game, it will be played next Wednesday night.
One would reasonably expect that cable news viewership will dominate the ratings over the next several weeks through the U.S. election and the fallout.
AEW was up with women 12-34 from a 0.10 to 0.14 rating while men 12-34 dropped by a similar amount from 0.18 to 0.11. The over 50 demographic for Dynamite declined by 20 percent and adults 18-34 dropped 17 percent.
Next week’s Wednesday night programming features NXT’s Halloween Havoc special that includes rematches from the recent TakeOver special with Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae and Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano. AEW Dynamite counters with a taped program featuring the semi-finals of the World Title Eliminator tournament, a rematch between Cody and Orange Cassidy in a Lumberjack Match, and an Inner Circle “Town Hall” to decide if MJF joins the group.
Because NXT was outside the top fifty cable programs, we don’t have a breakdown of the key demographics this week.
ADULTS 18-49
AEW: 0.30 (Even)
NXT: 0.16 (-6 percent)
FEMALES 18-49
AEW: 0.21 (+17)
MALES 18-49
AEW: 0.39 (-5 percent)
ADULTS 18-34
AEW: 0.15 (-17 percent)
FEMALES 12-34
AEW: 0.14 (+40 percent)
MALES 12-34
AEW: 0.11 (-39 percent)
ADULTS 25-54
AEW: 0.36 (+3 percent)
ADULTS 50+
AEW: 0.28 (-20 percent)