More on AEW & NXT Week 125 Viewership – Feb. 22 & 23, 2022, AEW Rampage Week 28

More on WWE NXT Viewership for February 22nd

The February 22nd episode of WWE NXT saw NXT gain large increases in overall viewership and small increases in key demographic ratings and key demographic rankings. This week’s show was notable for being NXT’s return to USA Network following a two-week stay on Syfy due to USA Network’s 2022 Winter Olympics Games commitments.

NXT drew 612,000 viewers and a 0.12 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 43rd place.

Detailed demographic and quarter-hours breakdowns were not available in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for NXT’s increases this week was due to the large gains in their over 50 demographic viewership group, which was up 15.6% compared to the last week’s show. Meltzer reported that due to the large increase in older viewers, this week’s show had a median viewership age of 60.5 years old as a result.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the College basketball game of Michigan State vs. Iowa drew 893,000 viewers on ESPN, the College basketball game of Arkansas vs. Florida drew 617,000 viewers on ESPN 2, Real Housewives of New Jersey drew 981,000 viewers on Bravo, and Wipeout drew 613,000 viewers on TBS.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 154,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 was up 25%, Females 18-34 was down 55%, Males 35-49 was down 1.4%, and Females 35-49 was up 62% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 16.6% in overall viewership and down 33.9% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 13.3% compared to the same week last year.

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More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for February 23rd

The February 23rd episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW gain large increases in overall viewership and key demographic ratings.

AEW drew 1,010,000 viewers and a 0.40 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 3rd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s increases this week was due to lower than usual sports competition, the large increases in their younger key demographic viewership, and only their West Coast viewership being affected by news coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In regards to the large increases in their younger key demographic viewership, it was 55.9% higher than last week’s show. Meltzer reported that AEW’s lead-in programming viewership on TBS was not a main factor due to it only being 2% higher than last week’s low numbers.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the College basketball game of LSU vs. Kentucky drew 1,376,000 viewers on ESPN, the College Basketball game of Duke vs. Virginia drew 1,102,000 viewers on ESPN, and the NHL game of Edmonton vs. Tampa Bay drew 315,000 viewers on TNT.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 517,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was up 46.1%, Females 18-34 was up 77.1%, Males 35-49 was up 9.7%, and Females 35-49 was up 31.7% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of the million viewership milestone, four out of AEW’s eight quarter hours averaged one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak was at 1,088,000 viewers for their first quarter and their low point was at 942,000 viewers for their eighth quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was up 21.5% in overall viewership and up 14.4% in key demographic viewership.

AEW Dynamite started off with around 1,088,000 viewers and their biggest gain of the night was their first quarter featuring the bulk of the Tag Team Battle Royale match due to no other quarters gained viewers. AEW’s biggest decline of the night was the ending of the Tag Team Battle Royale match, Hangman Adam Page in-ring promo, and the Bryan Danielson backstage interview segment which lost 40,000 viewers.

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for February 18th

The February 18th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership, a slight decline in key demographic rankings, and a slight increase in key demographic ratings. That week’s episode was notable for airing at an earlier starting time of 7PM EST due to TNT’s 2022 NBA All-Star commitments.

AEW Rampage drew 471,000 viewers and a 0.20 key demographic rating on TNT. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that week’s show was 11th place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s mixed results that week was due to the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership was enough to offset the large gains from their older key demographic viewership. AEW’s overall 18-34 viewership was down 18.8% while their overall 35-49 viewership was up 14.3% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that AEW Rampage’s overall viewership was the lowest since the December 31, 2021 episode.

In terms of head-to-head competition, the 2022 NBA All-Star Celebrity game drew 1,290,000 viewers on ESPN.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 257,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was down 20.7%, Females 18-34 was down 13.6%, Males 35-49 was up 7%, and Females 35-49 was up 30.2% compared to the prior week’s show. Meltzer reported that week’s Rampage show was the youngest skewing sports show for the week. That week’s Dynamite show reportedly was the tenth youngest, behind Rampage, 2022 NBA All-Star game, 2022 NBA All-Star Saturday night, 2022 NBA All-Star Celebrity game, 2022 NBA All-Star Rising Stars game, two English Premier League soccer games, USA Women’s soccer game, and one NHL game.

AEW Rampage started off with around 475,000 viewers and had around 423,000 viewers for their second quarter, around 489,000 viewers for their third quarter, and around 498,000 viewers for their main event quarter featuring the Jay White vs. Trent Beretta match.