Originally published at NXT 2.0 ties second-lowest demo number on USA against NFL competition
On a night where NXT faced some of its stiffest competition to date, its overall audience grew while the demo fell to one of its lowest levels.
The December 21st edition of NXT 2.0 went against a major NFL game with NXT averaging 591,000 viewers and approximately 148,000 (0.11) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
Overall viewership rose 5.3 percent from last week while the 18-49 number nosedived 16 percent with this week’s show tying the second-lowest demo figure for an episode of NXT on the USA Network since premiering in September 2019.
NXT finished #46 among cable originals. The only episode of NXT to air on USA with a lower 18-49 audience occurred on November 16th this year that averaged 143,000 in the demo.
The major culprit was the rescheduled NFL game on Fox that did a monstrous 14,899,000 viewers and 3.78 rating in 18-49 to dominate all of television on Tuesday. There was also a college football game airing against NXT that finished fourth among cable originals with 1,154,000 viewers and 0.25 in 18-49.
NXT was bolstered by an appearance from Raw performer AJ Styles for a confrontation with Grayson Waller, which was set up on social media over the weekend with a video posted by Waller. The show also featured a show-opening Street Fight between Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai and the main event between Pete Dunne and Tony D’Angelo.
According to Brandon Thurston’s data, females 18-49 fell 18 percent while males in the demo dropped by 12 percent. The 18-34 audience took a 21 percent hit compared with last week with the decline being a result of its female audience in that demo decreasing from 26,000 to 12,000. The 35-49 audience was down by 14 percent this week.
The reason the overall viewership figure increased was due to a 12.5 percent increase in the adult 50+ demo rating that grew from 0.32 to 0.36 this week.
In Canada, the show saw a big increase in its overall viewership with 58,700 viewers (an increase of 36.5 percent from last week) and 21,200 in the 25-54 demo.
Among sports programming in Canada, NXT finished #8 with the chart led by coverage of the NFL games, a Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights game, and two NBA games among the top sports programs.