The experiment of placing NXT on a Tuesday night provided the show with its second-best viewership figure of 2020 and the highest rating in the 18-40 demographic since December.
With a show promoted around a 60-minute Ironman Match for the vacant NXT title involving four of its top stars, the show was a big success averaging 849,000 viewers and a 0.26 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The show placed tenth for the night among cable programs. They were up 3 percent in viewership from last Wednesday’s unopposed airing and increased 8.3 percent in the key demo.
It’s NXT second-highest figure thus year trailing the August 19th show, which ran unopposed in its normal Wednesday night timeslot on the USA Network. This would be NXT’s fourth-highest viewership average since October 2nd, 2019.
After three weeks of running without AEW competition, NXT has averaged 842,000 viewers and a 0.25 demo rating. That compares to 696,000 viewers and a 0.18 rating for the three previous episodes that went head-to-head with AEW, so they have experienced a 21 percent increase in viewership and 38.8 percent jump in the demo rating.
The results would give one enough evidence to argue strongly that NXT is best served to air on a different night if the intention is to grow this product and put the show in the best position possible when their contract with the USA Network comes due. In that sense, this week’s number could be looked back on as a pivotal one if that decision is made.
This week’s NXT topped last Thursday’s airing of AEW Dynamite in viewers by 36,000 but AEW beat them in the main demo with a 0.29 to 0.26. The two programs tied with females 18-49, AEW won the other demos except for adults over 50.
Airing on Tuesday night, they had a massive jump in their 12-34 female audience that did a 0.11 rating, its highest rating in that demo since April 22nd.
Adults 18-34 were up 17 percent this week compared to last Wednesday, females 18-49 improved by 12 percent, and males 18-49 increased by 10 percent. The only demos that dropped were males 12-34 by 10 percent and adults over 50 fell slightly by 2 percent.
Next week, NXT will have another unopposed airing on Tuesday night due to the USA Network’s commitments with the NHL. NXT is coming back with another big match with Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole to determine the new NXT champion after this week’s tie between the two in the Ironman match.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos with comparisons to last Wednesday’s airing and last Thursday’s episode of Dynamite:
Source: Showbuzz Daily
ADULTS 18-49
NXT: 0.26 (+8.3 percent)
AEW on Thursday: 0.29
FEMALES 18-49
NXT: 0.19 (+12 percent)
AEW: 0.19
MALES 18-49
NXT: 0.33 (+10 percent)
AEW: 0.39
ADULTS 18-34
NXT: 0.14 (+17 percent)
AEW: 0.19
FEMALES 12-34
NXT: 0.11 (+120 percent)
AEW: 0.14
MALES 12-34
NXT: 0.18 (-10 percent)
AEW: 0.25
ADULTS 25-54
NXT: 0.30 (+7 percent)
AEW: 0.33
ADULTS 50+
NXT: 0.40 (-2 percent)
AEW: 0.30
