After one of its best weeks of the year, AEW Dynamite fell this week going against several competitors including an NBA basketball game.
Both AEW and NXT fell in total viewership with Dynamite down 12% averaging 792,000 viewers while NXT averaged 619,000 and declined by 18%.
In the 18-49 demo, AEW dropped 11% with a 0.32 rating and was ninth for the night among cable programs. AEW doubled NXT in the demo, who posted a 0.16 and finished 65th among cable programs. Due to its placement outside the top fifth programs, we don’t have a breakdown of the key demos for NXT.
The most-watched program among 18-49s was an episode of Big Brother on CBS that registered a 1.1 in the demo.
There were two NBA games on ESPN. The Toronto Raptors vs. Philadelphia 76ers did 674,000 viewers (0.26 in the demo), which ended just after 9 pm Eastern. The next game between Denver and the L.A. Clippers did 1,204,000 viewers (0.48, second place on cable) beginning at 9:19 pm Eastern against both shows.
The top cable program was Real Housewives of Beverly Hills at 1,576,000 viewers and a 0.51 in the demo.
After such a huge week with adults 18-34 last week, AEW fell by 38% in that category with a 0.18 compared to last week’s 0.29 (which topped this week’s Raw that did a 0.22). While it is a big fall in 18-34s, this week’s rating is in line with what the show had been doing prior to last week’s surge, and this week they returned to earth. For the month of July, AEW averaged a 0.17 among adults 18-34.
AEW was also hurt badly among males 12-34 which fell by 39% and females 12-34 dropping by 28.5%.
There were no increases among the key demos but females 18-49 and adults 25-54 stayed even.
Next week is a big test for AEW with Dynamite airing on Saturday night instead of Wednesday. On one hand, it’s a different night of the week and Saturday is tougher than Wednesday, but the silver lining is that Dynamite will have the NBA as a lead-in and that’s as strong as it gets on TNT.
NXT will go unopposed on television next Wednesday with its go-home show for TakeOver: XXX.
Here is a breakdown of the key demos for AEW:
ADULTS 18-49
AEW: 0.32 (-11%)
NXT: 0.16 (-20%)
FEMALES 18-49
AEW: 0.26 (Even)
MALES 18-49
AEW: 0.38 (-15.5%)
ADULTS 18-34
AEW: 0.18 (-38%)
FEMALES 12-34
AEW: 0.15 (-28.5%)
MALES 12-34
AEW: 0.17 (-39%)
ADULTS 25-54
AEW: 0.39 (Even)
ADULTS 50+
AEW: 0.26 (-21%)