Canadian TV Ratings: WWE to Netflix, Collision launches on USA, TNA's dip

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Originally published at Canadian TV Ratings: WWE to Netflix, Collision on USA, TNA

The viewership figures for professional wrestling programming in Canada are in as WWE shifts off linear television while AEW & TNA continue.

This past week, Canadians seeking WWE programming were shifted to Netflix, which becomes the exclusive home of the promotion’s programming including its premium live events.

While viewership figures specific to Canada are unavailable, data has been released by Netflix (using third-party service VideoAmp) for global and U.S. homes tuning in for the premiere of Raw.

On Tuesday, Raw was ranked #1 in Canada among TV shows on Netflix’s home screen and #4 as of Wednesday. It is no longer listed among the top ten in Canada, which are currently led by Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera Action, Squid Game, and American Primeval.

Canadians are not subjected to commercial breaks with the viewing experience on Monday featuring uninterrupted matches, exclusive interview segments, and video packages. On Tuesday’s NXT presentation, there were breaks but in place of commercial inventory were graphical packages of various talent and a countdown clock until the program resumed.

COLLISION POSTS STRONG FIGURES IN USA NETWORK DEBUT

AEW made a successful launch on the rebranded USA Network (formerly Discovery) with Collision moving to the broadcaster after being restricted to subscribers of TSN+. This past Saturday’s episode averaged 99,000 viewers and 67,000 in the 25-54 demographic, which was an impressive figure, especially on Saturday when it’s a competitive night due to NHL programming. The debut of Collision of USA Network in Canada also included native stars Chris Jericho and Adam Copeland on opposite sides of the main event six-man tag where Rated FTR defeated The Learning Tree.

This past Wednesday’s Dynamite averaged 82,500 viewers and 35,300 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN 2, which compares to the New Year’s Day episode that averaged 80,200 and 44,500 respectively. These figures highlight how well Collision performed out of the gate.

IMPACT DIPS IN SECOND WEEK

TNA Impact saw a decline in its second week on Sportsnet 360.

The January 9 episode, which was another taped show from Center Stage in Atlanta, averaged 19,000 viewers and 7,000 viewers in the demo. Those figures are a decline from the first episode on the network which averaged 36,000 and 16,000 viewers in the demographic.

Impact featured Joe Hendry & Rhino defeating Nic & Ryan Nemeth in the main event and another brawl between Jordynne Grace and Tessa Blanchard leading to the Genesis pay-per-view on January 19.

COMING UP

On Saturday, UFC stages its first event of 2025 with a Fight Night card from the Apex in Las Vegas headlined by a rematch between Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern.

Sportsnet 360 will air a replay of TNA Impact from 3-5 p.m. ET as a lead-in for the UFC Fight Night prelims followed by the main card at 7 p.m.

Sportsnet 360 also lists a three-hour block on Sunday at 8 p.m. beginning with another Impact replay followed by Xplosion.

An episode of Xplosion airs Monday at 7 p.m. followed by TNA Classics.

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That’s a great number for Collision. Wonder if they will be able to maintain. Horrendous number for TNA.

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The Collision number is a surprise. For me, the listing just had Criminal Minds so I was thinking it wasn’t going to be on. Essentially, people had to stay to see if it would be on.

As far as Impact goes, it was the same fare. It had an extra long, but great Joe Hendry video package. I thought this was replacing the old match of the week, but it didn’t. They just had nothing.

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The other thing to consider with USA Network right now is that it’s on a free view this month. Numbers may drastically dip in February

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I don’t know. If people are searching out Collision and in my case, waiting to see if it’s on, that’s a good fanbase. I’m also interested in what places don’t have USA Network normally, as I’ve had it in my cable packages dating back to the 90s.

I can see USA Network to be the home of other AEW content. One advantage TNA had when going to SportsNet360 is all the shoulder programming and maybe WBD could put older AEW content on there or even package type stuff like TNA does.

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That’s real bad for TNA… But that’s what the brand means these days. For context I don’t know how Sportsnet usually does in that slot. But I’d have to imagine they got it for very cheap.

Collison getting thal is very surprising - but Discovery Canada was a basic cable channel, right? I feel like that may reach a lot more people who don’t necessarily look to the sports channels.

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Yeah it’s going to be tough for TNA. They have had such a small reach in Canada since leaving Spike. They’re basically a new promotion to a lot of viewers. And also have no recognizable stars

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I was just thinking. Tony should try to get ROH on up here. It will merely replace more episodes of Criminal Minds. This network reminds me of the former Spike/Paramount Network where they just play the same show for hours on end. AEW/ROH also need to look into investing in shoulder program, be it the return of Dark or start to build recap shows and best of shows. TNA probably doesn’t bring in a ton of viewers for their best of shows on weekends, but it’s something to play randomly. I know people were probably mocking the 17 match Dark tapings from back in the day, but that content adds up.

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Is your USA Network the same type of programming as our USA Network? Suits, Law & Order, etc?

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I think it’s a little different. Back to back episodes of Mayday are there now.

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It’s pretty different. While there’s the occasional rerun of Suits and a few similar series (The Anonymous, Race to Survive), it’s really just a dumping ground for whatever CTV wants to put there.

So instead of Scare Tactics or Miz & Mrs or Assorted Chrisley Project #21, our USA is mostly for reruns of old Discovery Channel Canada shows, AEW Collision and for some reason The Pit.

Canadian versions of US cable networks can be kind of all over the place. Like, A&E Canada was/is super similar to A&E in programming, but our version of Bravo was EXTREMELY different until like 6 months ago. You should have seen our weird-ass version of G4!

Apols, that’s a really long-winded way of saying “Not really, maybe a little.”

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