NXT held up against the NBA playoffs for its Spring Breakin’ special, which registered its largest audience in four months.
The Spring Breakin’ special from Tuesday averaged 661,000 viewers and approximately 173,000 (0.13) in the 18-49 demographic, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.
WWE NXT "Spring Breakin'" special episode last night on USA Network:
661,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.13 (173,000)
Highest total viewership since January 4.WWE Evil, following NXT, on Stephanie:
362,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.08 (100,000)📊 More demos & analysis: https://t.co/1SscdBCpr8 pic.twitter.com/m6nSp6jKNJ
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) May 4, 2022
While the 18-49 audience experienced a minor drop of two percent, the overall audience was boosted by a 21 percent increase in adults over 50 leading to a four-month high in overall viewership – its best mark since the ‘New Year’s Evil’ special on January 4th.
The 50+ rating of 0.40 was the best of recent memory for the program and is a demo that hasn’t been affected among wrestling programming since the start of the NBA playoffs.
Tuesday’s episode fell two percent among adults 18-34 with males falling from 36,000 to 27,000 but offset by females in the demo growing from 17,000 to 25,000, per Brandon Thurston.
NXT 2.0 finished #33 among cable originals on Tuesday, which was led by the NBA. The late-game began at 9:41 p.m. ET between Golden State and Memphis with 5,321,000 viewers and 1.76 in 18-49. The majority of NXT aired against the Milwaukee vs. Boston game that averaged 4,102,000 viewers and 1.39 in 18-49. There was also an NHL playoff game between Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers, which finished fourth on cable with 1,038,000 viewers and 0.36 in 18-49.
The Spring Breakin’ special included Bron Breakker defending the NXT Championship against Joe Gacy in the main event, which included a six-minute overrun period. There was also a North American Championship match kicking off the show, and main roster performers Natalya & The Viking Raiders were involved in separate matches.
NXT 2.0 didn’t air live on Sportsnet 360, so we don’t have Canadian viewership figures.
Immediately following NXT 2.0, the latest edition of WWE Evil averaged 362,000 viewers and 0.08 in 18-49 featuring an episode on Stephanie McMahon.
The latest episode of ‘Young Rock’ focusing on Dwayne Johnson’s tryout match with the WWF in March 1996 averaged 2,138,000 viewers and 0.34 in 18-49 – it finished seventh among network programs for the night, which was led by ‘This is Us’ on NBC.
‘Young Rock’ fell slightly in overall viewers and its 18-49 rating decreased from 0.40 last week.
