AEW’s Dynamite debut on TBS finished second among all cable programming with a giant 18-34 audience.
The January 5th episode from Newark averaged 1,010,000 viewers and approximately 560,000 (0.43) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
It was the show’s second-highest audience since October 6th behind the episode in Greensboro two weeks ago that averaged 1,020,000. In 18-49, it was their best demo figure since September 29th.
Dynamite’s 18-34 audience was huge with approximately 239,000 (0.34) in that demo that was bolstered by women in the demo increasing 120 percent from last week and males 18-34 increasing by 56 percent. According to Thurston, it was the fourth-highest 18-34 number in AEW Dynamite’s history and topped Raw and SmackDown’s 18-34 audiences throughout December.
This week’s Dynamite topped WWE Raw in males 18-49 (358,000 to 342,000) and adults 18-34 (239,000 to 229,000 – they were equal with men and AEW slightly edged them with females), according to Thurston’s data.
The 18-49 audience increased 15.5 percent from last week while females 18-49 grew by 23 percent and males in the demo increased by 11.5 percent. The older audiences did not see a jump with 35-49s down by 10 percent and 50+ demo rating fell from 0.36 to. 0.35.
AEW was second only to the NBA game between Golden State and Dallas, which finished with 1,691,000 viewers and 0.53 in 18-49. AEW beat out the late game between Utah and Denver on ESPN that averaged 1,155,000 and 0.41.
Dynamite was built around the rematch between Hangman Page and Bryan Danielson for the AEW championship, which took up the first half-hour of the program.
With the move to TBS, AEW was also back to an 8 p.m. start time across the country after airing live in all time zones on TNT since the start of the NHL season.
Brandon Thurston has researched the impact of Dynamite airing live across the country and found that there was a similar loss in the eastern time zone over the last six weeks.
When AEW Dynamite started airing live and out of primetime in Pacific and Mountain because of NHL games, viewership declined in major markets in those regions, but it fell in the Eastern time zone at a similar rate.
As discussed on Live TV Ratings Talk:https://t.co/IGFnz3FrJI pic.twitter.com/Lj2VDUzTAz
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) December 31, 2021
In Canada, AEW Dynamite averaged 123,800 viewers and 67,400 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN 2. The overall audience is slightly beneath the December average of 137,500 viewers. It was a rebound from last week’s show at Daily’s Place that averaged 97,000 in Canada.
AEW’s week continues with a taped edition of Rampage and its first Saturday night special on TNT with “Battle of the Belts”, which is a live episode from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Saturday special will feature a rematch between Cody Rhodes and Sammy Guevara for the TNT championship and Dr. Britt Baker defending the AEW women’s championship against Riho.
POST Wrestling has confirmed that “Battle of the Belts” will air in Canada on TSN 2 this Saturday at 8 p.m. ET and will be available through TSN.ca and their streaming app.
