After a one-week hiatus, AEW Collision returned on Saturday night and took a significant hit in its viewership figures.
The February 24 episode from Springfield, Missouri, averaged 385,000 viewers and 144,000 (0.11) in the 18-49 demographic, per Wrestlenomics.
It was a 22 percent drop in overall viewership and a 29 percent decrease in the key demo from the February 10 episode.
The sports competition against Collision included the Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks (2.2 million viewers on ABC), and Texas A&M vs. Tennessee (961,000 on ESPN), per Sports Media Watch.
Collision registered its lowest since viewership since January 27 when it aired against the Royal Rumble. The last time Collision aired on the same day as an early morning WWE premium live event was on November 4 after Crown Jewel with Collision averaged 366,000 viewers and 0.09 in the demo.
The low figure coincides with airing on the same day as a WWE premium live event, which has a pattern of affecting Collision’s audience even if it is not airing head-to-head.
In the 18-49 demo, female viewership dropped 40 percent to 49,000 viewers and men fell by 23 percent to 95,000.
Adults 18-34 saw a massive drop from 85,000 viewers two weeks ago to 41,000 including a 63 percent decrease among males.
Adults 35-49 was an interesting category as the demo fell 14 percent but males had a small increase from 69,000 viewers to 75,000 this week. Females in the demo dropped by 46 percent this week.
The show was headlined by Bryan Danielson facing Jun Akiyama in a first-time 1-on-1 match. The match did grow the audience during the final half hour of the show.
