More on AEW Dynamite Week 222 Viewership – Jan. 3, 2024, Rampage Week 125 – Dec. 29, 2023

More on AEW Dynamite Viewership for January 3rd

The January 3rd episode of AEW Dynamite saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a key demographic ratings.

AEW drew 801,000 viewers and a 0.26 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 2nd place.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the main reason for AEW’s declines this week was due to the large declines from their younger key demographic viewership, older male key demographic viewership, and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 12.8%, 16.6%, and 28.6% respectively compared to last week’s show. Another reason reportedly was due to the weaker than usual general television viewership for that night. Meltzer reported that due to the large declines from all of AEW’s key demographic viewership groups, Dynamite managed to be the oldest skewing cable television wrestling show this past week when only including AEW and WWE. Meltzer reported that AEW Rampage was the youngest skewing show, followed in order by WWE RAW, WWE NXT, and Dynamite.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the NBA game of Chicago Bulls vs. New York Knicks drew 1,636,000 viewers on ABC, the College basketball game of Louisville vs. Virginia drew 420,000 viewers on ESPN2, the NHL game of New Jersey Devils vs. Washington Capitals drew 358,000 viewers on TNT, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills drew 1,112,000 viewers on BRAVO, Sistas Series drew 1,240,000 viewers on BET, Challenge New Champion drew 504,000 viewers on MTV, and Expedition Unknown drew 1,327,000 viewers on Discovery Channel.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 337,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 was 90,000 viewers (down 15.1%), Females 18-34 was 46,000 viewers (down 8%), Males 35-49 was 146,000 viewers (down 16.6%), and Females 35-49 was 55,000 viewers (down 28.6%). Meltzer reported that AEW’s male/female viewership split was 236,000 male viewers and 101,000 female viewers for a split of 70% in favor of males.

In terms of the one million viewership milestone, one of AEW’s eight quarters drew one million or more viewers. AEW’s peak quarter hour viewership was at 1,063,000 viewers for their first quarter while their quarter low was at 690,000 viewers for their eighth quarter.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 6.5% in overall viewership but up 0.3% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 6.3% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Dynamite quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 1,063,000 overall viewers and 441,000 key demo viewers (Samoa Joe video promo segment and the Undisputed Kingdom & Jay White promo segment & brawl with Bullet Club Gold, The Acclaimed, & Billy Gunn)
• 2Q – 858,000 overall viewers and 370,000 key demo viewers (Eddie Kingston & Daniel Garcia video promos segment and the bulk of the AEW International Championship match of Dante Martin vs. Orange Cassidy (c))
• 3Q – 808,000 overall viewers and 335,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the AEW International Championship match, the Private Party return & promo segment, the Toni Storm & Luther backstage interview segment, the House of Black video promo segment, and the Prince Nana & Swerve Strickland backstage interview segment)
• 4Q – 780,000 overall viewers and 322,000 key demo viewers (Mariah May vs. Queen Aminata match & post-match promo with May & Deonna Purrazzo & brawl)
• 5Q – 777,000 overall viewers and 348,000 key demo viewers (Christian Cage, Killswitch, Nick Wayne, & Shayna Wayne promo segment, The Outcasts & Harley Cameron backstage interview segment, and the start of the Konosuke Takeshita vs. Darby Allin match)
• 6Q – 733,000 overall viewers and 300,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Takeshita vs. Allin match and the Don Callis Family backstage interview segment)
• 7Q – 729,000 overall viewers and 303,000 key demo viewers (AEW Continental Championship Eliminator Four-way match of Trent Beretta vs. “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith vs. Brian Cage vs. El Hijo del Vikingo, the Matt Menard & Hangman Adam Page backstage segment, and the Eddie Kingston video promo segment)
• 8Q – 690,000 overall viewers and 284,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Daniel Garcia vs. Swerve Strickland match)
• Overrun – 713,000 overall viewers and 303,000 key demo viewers (Ending of the Garcia vs. Strickland match & post-match Strickland & Hangman Page brawl)

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More on AEW Rampage Viewership for December 29th

The December 29th episode of AEW Rampage saw AEW suffer a large decline in overall viewership and a slight decline in key demographic rankings but gained a slight increase in key demographic ratings. That week’s show was notable for being the Rampage New Year’s Smash 2023 special.

AEW drew 326,000 viewers and a 0.11 key demographic rating on TBS. AEW’s key demographic ranking for that night was 19th 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 decline from their Over 50 demographic viewership, which the percentage was not given, and the small decline from their younger key demographic viewership group, which was down 3.8% compared to the prior week’s show. This reportedly mostly offset the large gains from their older male key demographic and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were up 9.4% and 66.7% respectively compared to the prior week’s show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the 2023 College football Cotton Bowl game of Missouri vs. Ohio State drew 9,723,000 viewers on ESPN, the NBA game of Memphis Grizzles vs. Los Angeles Clippers drew 344,000 viewers on TNT, the College basketball game of San Diego State vs. Gonzaga drew 292,000 viewers on ESPN2, Love After Lockup drew 393,000 viewers on WETV, House Hunters drew 735,000 viewers on Home and Garden TV, and Sister Wives Talk Back drew 701,000 viewers on TLC.

In terms of key demographic viewership, AEW had 150,000 viewers. AEW’s Males 18-34 had 28,000 viewers (equal), Females 18-34 had 24,000 viewers (down 8.3%), Males 35-49 had 70,000 viewers (up 9.4%), and Females 35-49 had 30,000 viewers (up 66.7%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership skew was 98,000 male viewer and 54,000 female viewers for a split of 64.7% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, AEW was down 30.6% in overall viewership and down 2.6% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that AEW’s 18-34 viewership was up 2% compared to the same week last year.

AEW Rampage quarter hour viewership breakdowns were:

• 1Q – 422,000 overall viewers and 173,000 key demo viewers (Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara promo segment, the Daniel Garcia & Matt Menard backstage interview segment, and the start of the Ruby Soho vs. Marina Shafir match)
• 2Q – 335,000 overall viewers and 150,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the Soho vs. Shafir match, the Don Callis, Big Bill, & Ricky Starks backstage promo segment, the Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, & Stokely Hathaway backstage segment, and the start of the ROH Pure Championship match of Matt Sydal vs. Wheeler Yuta (c))
• 3Q – 275,000 overall viewers and 135,000 key demo viewers (Bulk of the ROH Pure Championship match & post-match angle with Danhausen & HOOK and the MJF, Samoa Joe, & AEW Devil video package segment)
• 4Q – 274,000 overall viewers and 140,000 key demo viewers (Action Andretti & Top Flight vs. Rocky Romero, Orange Cassidy, & Trent Baretta Trios match)