Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/07/09/nxt-wins-with-total-viewership-while-aew-takes-the-demo/
The second week of AEW and NXT’s head-to-head specials saw small decreases of both Fyter Fest and the Great American Bash.
It was the same outcome as last week with NXT winning in total viewership but AEW having a commanding lead in the 18-49 demographic ranking seventh for the night on cable to NXT’s position of 24th.
AEW’s Fyter Fest averaged 715,000 viewers and 0.28 in the main demo, which were decreases of 4.4% and 3% respectively. Their show was hurt losing its AEW title match between Jon Moxley and Brian Cage, which was the biggest match promoted on their side, but the upside is the delay allows them to offer a big match on next week’s program. In the main event slot, AEW went with Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy, going against the Double Title match between Adam Cole and Keith Lee with the latter airing commercial-free on the USA Network.
NXT’s Great American Bash special averaged 759,000 viewers and 0.20 in the demo, dropping 4.2% in viewers and 9% in the demo. The episode had limited commercial breaks throughout the show and had the largest match in terms of stakes with both the NXT and NXT North American titles on the line and crowning Keith Lee as its new double champion.
As usual, AEW won all the key demographics except adults over 50 as NXT outperformed in that demo with 0.39 to AEW’s 0.27.
While AEW’s overall viewership was down, they saw a big increase with adults 18-34 growing by 27% and males 12-34 improving by 23.5% this week. Its largest loss was among women 18-49 which fell by 15%. The show also had a one-minute overrun on TNT.
NXT experienced a 15% loss with males 25-54, females 12-34 dropped by 12.5%, and males 18-49 declined by 10%. They did see an increase in the 18-34 demo, which was up 10%, so both shows saw gains in that category.
A big factor over the past three weeks for NXT has been its 50+ audience. One month ago, they were averaging 0.35-0.36 in that demo, and are coming off weeks of 0.42 on June 24th (their highest head-to-head rating int that demo), 0.40 on July 1st, and 0.39 this week.
Next week, AEW presents another special titled “Fight for the Fallen” with the delayed match between Moxley and Brian Cage, Cody vs. Sonny Kiss for the TNT Championship, The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Jurassic Express, and FTR vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix.
NXT will counter with Io Shirai vs. Tegan Nox for the NXT women’s title and Damian Priest vs. Cameron Grimes.
Below is a breakdown of the key demographics this week:
ADULTS 18-49
AEW: 0.28 (-3%)
NXT: 0.20 (-9%)
FEMALES 18-49
AEW: 0.17 (-15%)
NXT: 0.15 (-)
MALES 18-49
AEW: 0.39 (+5%)
NXT: 0.26 (-10%)
ADULTS 18-34
AEW: 0.19 (+27%)
NXT: 0.11 (+10%)
FEMALES 12-34
AEW: 0.11 (-)
NXT: 0.09 (+12.5%)
MALES 12-34
AEW: 0.21 (+23.5%)
NXT: 0.13 (+8%)
ADULTS 25-54
AEW: 0.32 (-3%)
NXT: 0.22 (-15%)
ADULTS 50+
AEW: 0.27 (-7%)
NXT: 0.39 (-2.5%)