Against a slew of college football games, AEW Collision was able to show a healthy uptick after last week’s low viewership.
The September 9 episode of Collision from Cleveland averaged 476,000 viewers and 199,000 (0.15) in the 18-49 demographic on TNT, which ranked #14 among cable originals and third in its timeslot on Saturday (Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Spoiler TV)
Collision’s overall viewership and 18-49 audience were both up by 38% from last week’s all-time low for the series since debuting in June and was a two-week high in both categories for the show.
The major game that Collision aired against was Texas vs. Alabama, which averaged 7,963,000 viewers on ESPN and a simulcast on ESPN 2 averaging 799,000 viewers. All four major networks were also airing college games in prime time against Collision.
AEW was headlined by Samoa Joe vs. Penta El Zero M in the semi-finals of the World Title Eliminator Tournament and included the other semi-final match between Roderick Strong and Darby Allin, an appearance by Bryan Danielson, and International title defense by Jon Moxley.
The key difference from last week was the lack of a WWE premium live event airing against Collision, which has proven to be the stiffest competitor for AEW’s Saturday night programming.
In the 18-49 demo, Collision grew in male viewership from 103,000 to 127,000 and females increased from 42,000 to 71,000.
Adults 18-34 increased by 90% from 39,000 to 74,000 and was its largest audience in that demo since August 19. Males in the demo shot up from 22,000 last week to 53,000.
Adults 35-49 grew by 18% including female viewership doubling from last week and hitting its largest number of female viewers in this category since July 29. Males in the demo dropped by 8% this week.
Collision’s next head-to-head battle with WWE will be on September 30 against NXT No Mercy followed by WWE Fastlane on October 7.
