The first week of head-to-head programming between All Elite Wrestling and NXT resulted in a solid victory for the upstart promotion on TNT.
AEW’s inaugural edition of “Dynamite” averaged 1,409,000 viewers from 8-10 pm Eastern and topped NXT’s figure of 891,000 on the USA Network.
NXT utilized minimal commercial interruption and went nine minutes past 10 pm while AEW did not have an overrun portion.
Tony Maglio of The Wrap was the first to report the viewership figures, adding that AEW doubled NXT in the adult 18-49 demographic. AEW attracted 878,000 in the key demo while NXT had 414,000.
AEW won in all the demographic breakdowns except for the 50+ audience that NXT won with a 0.36 in the demo to AEW’s 0.34.
AEW was the second most-watched cable program among people 18-49 behind the MLB Wild Card Game between Tampa and Oakland.
In Canada, AEW averaged 109,000 viewers on TSN 2, which POST Wrestling confirmed with multiple sources.
North of the border, the AEW debut had 24-hours of lead time with some guides not listing the show because of how late the deal was made official. It also faced competition with the launch of the NHL season, including a Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators game.
Please somebody correct me if I am wrong but those numbers do not include the DVR and Taped viewings which are commonly used for TV ad rates, etc. That is, T+3 viewing I think it is called. There is a chance 2 million people watch AEW by Friday. Apparently the re-play right after it ended did a decent number as well.
the deal was announced 24 hours before it starts airing
it was competing against the NHL season opener between the Senators and the Maple Leafs
the number doesn’t probably take into account those who watched via TSN.ca or the TSN app
I think they did pull quite a respectable number for this premiere. If you scale this to the United States, they would’ve roughly had under 1 million viewers (think the number I saw was 969,000) so I’d say that’s almost on par with what AEW did in the United States. And I’d be curious to see the viewership RAW and Smackdown are doing on Sportsnet 360. You never hear those numbers.
May I ask if you have children and/or watch with them?
Here is why I ask…it’s curious the 50+ demo is a strong demo for NXT. BUT…maybe it isn’t! Maybe it’s their children who are watching but the TVs / Cable Boxes are being pinged in the 50+ demo under the owner, not the children using the device to watch…did I just solve the puzzle? Pass me another cold one!
I’m curious and please don’t take this the wrong way but as I legit don’t know anyone above age 50 watching this stuff I’m more specially interested in RAW
I can sort of get AEW or NXT because if you grew up on wrestling it’s a good product.
However RAW is just low rent campy and bad television. The wrestling is bad, writing is bad, storylines are dumb and they actually had one two weeks ago with the champ badly pretending to be scared of another wrestler in costume.
Not sure if you watch RAW but if you do I am asking why?
At age 50 plus most people have active lives with work and wife/husband and kids. It isn’t your 20-30s where you spend time alone sitting at home and flop on RAW while you are on the computer or doing school worK.
50 yr olds don’t watch bad reality TV etc and RAW seems to be in that same vein. I don’t underatand why they would waste 3hrs on a Monday watching this. Is your whole family watching?
So if you do watch RAW I am genuinely curious - why? And do you know other people your age doing this?
That is a good point about kids watching. When my kids are teenagers I will be 50+ so if they are watching I would get counted. I don’t have cable, but if I did based on what gets watched most it would be things like Sesame Street.
Yours is a loaded question, I tried to answer the next posters questions also. Sorry this is long.
Yes I have kids but the youngest is 24 and the oldest is 28. None ever showed much interest in wrestling.
I will start with I will be 52 in December and have watched wrestling more on then off since I was 8. I was watching WCCW before it was World Class. I watched what was “called” Kevin Von Erichs first match. I am now and always been more of a southern style wrestling fan. I always thought WWF was to goofy and was not a fan of them.
During the Monday Night Wars. I always watched WCW and taped RAW. My room mate had the nefarious means cable box so we watched all the PPV. That’s how we found out about ECW. I was some what early into the IWC with the Lords of Pain news board and message board. To most of the people I knew I was the person to go to with any and all wrestling questions be it real or story line.
I stayed a die hard fan not missing anything up to the Katie Vick angle. The moment Triple H climbed in the coffin I turned it off. I walked away and didn’t watch until the night of CM Punk pipe bomb interview. I was still following what was going on through the internet.
I was one of the people bought the weekly TNA PPV. I tried to watch anything I could find but there wasn’t much on tv either then WWF.
I have continued to watch WWE until about 6 months ago. John and Wai have been a big help with me cutting that cord. I discovered podcast and how to listen to them about 6 years ago. I would say 85% of what I listen to is wrestling related. That is split about 50-50 with current content and old school wrestling shows.
I did go to the Wrestlemania in Dallas and I had the WwE network from the first week up tell last years Wrestlemania. I dropped the network even though there is a lot I am interested in. I feel that is the only way I can express my feelings on the current product.
I continued to watch RAW and Smackdown more from habit then anything els.
What am I currently watching.
MLW on YouTube. Cable company dropped BeIn just over a month ago. I would rather not watch on a tablet or computer but it’s my only option.
ROH I really like some of the guys here but it feels like a chore to find and watch.
Impact dont have whatever they have been on but will try to get back on board with them on Axes.
NXT am happy it is on USA and I can watch again.
AEW will watch each week. I have enjoyed what they have done so far. (Well most of it)
NJPW I watch it some and went to the Dallas show but if i miss a week it doesn’t bother me.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I will answer honestly. Do not worry about insulting me cause you can’t do it. Well you can but it won’t hurt my feelings.
Sorry for any mistakes did this all on my phone with 1 finger. And it took me almost an hour to do it.
I don’t think there should be any surprise about AEW winning week one. NXT were fighting a losing battle here as people wanted to see what an AEW show looks like and that would’ve been the case whatever either show announced. I don’t fault WWE for wanting to go 2 weeks early with NXT, they wanted to build up familiarity with the audience before AEW were up and running but curiosity was always going to win out (even if NXT debuted on USA on the same day as NXT still isn’t a new show). What I do fault WWE for is their seeming reluctance to promote NXT on Raw or SmackDown. That part still needs answering.
I expect the hype of AEW being new to carry them on to a few more wins over the next few weeks, maybe months but after that it’ll be down to what they’re actually offering. I do expect AEW’s win next week to be smaller though.