NXT draws 831,000 viewers unopposed on Christmas Night

General
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Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/27/nxt-draws-831000-viewers-unopposed-on-christmas-night/

The Christmas edition of NXT performed well on the USA Network with ratings coming in a day later this week due to the holiday.

With AEW not running this week, NXT had the pro wrestling audience to itself on Wednesday attracting 831,000 viewers on the USA Network. They were up 4.5% from last week’s figure and 7% from two weeks ago.

The show featured taped matches from Full Sail University and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn from last Friday’s SmackDown taping mixed with in-studio throws from Cathy Kelley, Pat McAfee, and Sam Roberts.

The 18-49 demo drew a 0.22 and was 29th among cable programming that day.

In the other demos, the big winner fluctuation was in NXT’s strongest demo of people over 50. This week they did a 0.42, which is the highest they have done since AEW started airing head-to-head in October. They stayed even among 12-34s from the week prior.

NXT also went against the L.A Lakers vs. Clippers game on ESPN that did 1,772,000 viewers.

Next Wednesday will feature another taped edition of NXT that includes the promotion’s year-end awards and the announcement of the teams for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. AEW will run a live edition of Dynamite from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.

Here is the breakdown of the key demos:

PEOPLE 18-49
This week: 0.22 (-18.5%)
Last week: 0.27

FEMALES 18-49
This week: 0.16 (-27%)
Last week: 0.22

MALES 18-49
This week: 0.28 (-10%)
Last week: 0.31

PEOPLE 18-34
This week: 0.15 (-17%)
Last week: 0.18

FEMALES 12-34
This week: 0.11
Last week: 0.11

MALES 12-34
This week: 0.19
Last week: 0.19

PEOPLE 25-54
This week: 0.24 (-14%)
Last week: 0.28

PEOPLE 50+
This week: 0.42 (+17%)
Last week: 0.36

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I guess almost noone who watches aew live is even interested in watching nxt live. That tells US alot about the “war”…

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A decent number overall for a taped show airing on Christmas.

As for the show itself, it was a weird one. You’re rarely going to get anything “bad” on the show and the wrestling will be good but none of the show actually mattered and a couple of matches were recorded before/after SmackDown which made the show feel more like a compilation show. Was also broken up by segments featuring Pat McAfee, Sam Roberts & Cathy Kelley reviewing matches and setting up matches coming up which made it feel more like a compilation show. They could have recorded a few more in ring promos, backstage interviews and done a couple of angles to make it feel more like a regular show. Could have taken advantage of the lack of wrestling competition on the night by putting on more of a show that mattered rather than taking advantage of the lack of wrestling competition by relaxing.

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This doesn’t really tell us that at all. I doubt every regular NXT viewer watched the show live either. Fewer regular NXT viewers watched and more AEW viewers watched, you could break it down however you want.

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I don’t think you can draw that conclusion about an X-mas night show. I usually watch NXT live and did not because of the Holiday. It was also a taped show not live, so people may have felt no need to tune in live. Your assumption also doesn’t account for the possibility that people are double counted each week etc.

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I don’t get your point

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Usually taped shows draw as much as live shows. WWE Backstage has got the second best viewership they ever had. So the holiday argument falls flat. I don’t think aew and nxt are battling for the same viewers they already have their base that does not decide on wednesday night what to watch.

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I mean it was Christmas night. I figure a lot of people didn’t watch.

Also the overrun suggests a good portion of the AEW audience watches NXT

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No they don’t see Monday’s RAW. It was down a few hundred thousand from the previous week. Taped shows are often spoiled and people don’t feel the pressure to tune in live. If taped shows drew as well as live wrestling would never go live as taped would be far easier to create a polished product. The live nature of wrestling is what makes it appointment viewing without that it is the same as any other TV show.
As to Backstage a show airing at 11 PM is going to be far less impacted by holiday plans than one airing at 8. People might still be wrapping up dinner, driving home, or hanging out with family at 8 or 9. Far less likely at 11. I’m sure there are some AEW people that don’t watch anything WWE, I doubt it is basically the whole audience. However those fans might also be more likely to watch it on delay as they do so normally.

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Flawless Victory! :skull:

Amazing number for this date.