Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/10/29/halloween-havoc-leads-to-nxts-best-overall-viewership-of-2020/
NXT’s experiment marketing its show around the Halloween Havoc concept led to a surge in its viewership while AEW saw a slight increase.
The first event marketed as “Halloween Havoc” since October 2000, saw NXT’s viewership spike by 36 percent and its 18-49 demo surge 56 percent with 875,000 viewers and a 0.25 rating. It catapulted the program to #21 on the cable charts after being outside the top fifty programs since September.
NXT also had an eight-minute overrun with the Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae main event, which likely helped the overall number.
A taped edition of AEW Dynamite countered with 781,000 viewers but topped NXT in the demo rating with a 0.32 rating and finished #12 against its cable competitors. AEW was up 4 percent in viewers and 7 percent in the demo rating.
In Canada, with all the playoffs over with, AEW was the #1 sports program in the country with 103,500 viewers and 68,200 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN2. They also topped the Toronto FC soccer game, which aired on the other four TSN channels and was more widely available.
For NXT, it was its highest viewership average of 2020 and tied its best head-to-head demo figure with an episode that aired on February 19th.
AEW didn’t experience any significant decreases among its key demographics with the lone drop among males 18-49, which was down 2.5 percent. Dynamite saw a large gain among adults 18-34 by 33 percent, males 12-34 were up 27 percent, and women 18-49 increased by 24 percent from last week’s episode, which went against the World Series.
Because NXT wasn’t among the top fifty programs, we don’t have specific demographic numbers to compare with last week’s show.
NXT topped AEW in males 12-34 and adults over 50.
The Halloween Havoc special was promoted around the nostalgia of the regular October-themed WCW event with the “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” concept for the NXT women’s and North American title matches. AEW countered with a Lumberjack Match between Cody and Orange Cassidy, and the semi-finals of the World Title Eliminator tournament including Kenny Omega vs. Penta El Zero M.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos:
ADULTS 18-49
AEW: 0.32 (+7 percent)
NXT: 0.25 (+56 percent)
FEMALES 18-49
AEW: 0.38 (-2.5 percent)
NXT: 0.33
MALES 18-49
AEW: 0.20 (+33 percent)
NXT: 0.15
ADULTS 18-34
AEW: 0.20 (+33 percent)
NXT: 0.15
FEMALES 12-34
AEW: 0.16 (+14 percent)
NXT: 0.11
MALES 12-34
AEW: 0.14 (+27 percent)
NXT: 0.20
ADULTS 25-54
AEW: 0.40 (+11 percent)
NXT: 0.29
ADULTS 50+
AEW: 0.29 (+3.5 percent)
NXT: 0.43