WWE Raw fell to another all-time viewership low airing against two NFL games while AEW Collision saw a decrease in young males.
The September 18 edition of WWE Raw averaged 1,331,000 viewers and 574,000 (0.44) in the 18-49 demographic. (Data: Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics)
Raw’s viewership fell 3% from last week’s all-time low for a first-run episode of the program in its history. Aside from a ‘Best of’ show that aired last December, this week’s show is now the least-watched show in the program’s history.
However, the 18-49 audience was up by 9% this week with males increasing from 383,000 to 414,000 and women jumping from 144,000 and 160,000 this week.
The culprit was the NFL, which aired two games on Monday with the 7:15 p.m. ET game between New Orleans and Carolina airing on ESPN & ESPN 2 while the 8:15 p.m. game between Cleveland and Pittsburgh aired on ABC & ESPN+.
On Monday, it was revealed that ABC has added ten Monday night games this season, which will be simulcast from ESPN resulting in significantly larger competition for Raw with millions of additional viewers watching football every Monday on network television.
The loss of viewers for Raw was not due to its younger audience, which saw adults 18-34 increase by 21% this week from 170,000 to 206,000 and adults 35-49 rising by 3% from 357,000 to 368,000.
In Canada, Raw averaged 282,500 viewers and 134,600 in the 25-54 demographic on Sportsnet 360, which were increases of 38% and 32% respectively from last week. It was Raw’s largest audience in Canada since August 21 and ranked #2 among sports programs for the night behind the Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to Wrestlenomics, the peak quarter was from 8:15 – 8;30 p.m. ET for the post-match involving Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Cody Rhodes in the ring after Rhodes beat Dominik Mysterio with 1,455,000 viewers and 616,000 in the demo. However, the next quarter saw a 14% decrease in the 18-49 audience, which was the low point of the show for the demo during Kofi Kingston vs. Ivar.
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AEW Collision was steady on Saturday night in terms of its viewership and 18-49 audience, although there was a major decline among young males.
The September 16 edition from State College, Pennsylvania, averaged 467,000 viewers and 200,000 (0.15) in the 18-49 demographic, per Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.
The audience was down by 2% and the 18-49 audience was up by 1% from last week’s numbers.
In the 18-49 demo, males fell by 4% from 127,000 to 122,000 and women were up by 9% from 71,000 to 77,000.
The serious decline was among adults 18-34, which fell by 53% from 74,000 to 35,000. This was all due to the male viewership taking a major hit from 53,000 to 15,000 this week or 72%. The female drop was only 5%.
It was the lowest 18-34 audience in the history of Collision.
Adults 35-49 did not reflect the same decline as that demographic had an increase of 33% going from 124,000 to 165,000 including a 45% increase among male viewers and 14% with females in the demo.
Collision was headlined by a TBS Championship match between Kris Statlander and Dr. Britt Baker with Baker challenging on the campus of Penn State University, where she graduated from. It also saw Bryan Danielson team with Claudio Castagnoli against Ricky Starks & Big Bill in the top matches.
Wrestlenomics reports that Collision peaked during the three-minute overrun with 588,000 viewers for the ending of Statlander vs. Baker along with 209,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo, which matched the demo audience for the opening quarter.
Collision faced multiple college football games on Saturday night including Florida vs. Tennessee on ESPN, which averaged 5,309,000 viewers and a 1.52 rating in the 18-49 demo. There were also games airing on Fox, CBS & ABC. (Sports TV Ratings)
