AEW vs. NXT Ratings Report: Both shows lose viewers, NXT closes gap with AEW, AEW trounces NXT in key younger demos, both land in top 25

By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

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AEW Dynamite on TNT and NXT on USA both dipped to series-low numbers in total viewership last night (10/23) up against the World Series game on Fox between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 12 million viewers.

AEW drew 963,000 viewers for the two hour live show, down from 1.014 million last week. NXT drew 698,000 viewers, down from 712,000 last week.

The gap between the two shows shrunk to the lowest yet, with AEW outdrawing NXT by 265,000. That is down from 302,000 last week, 350,000 in week two, and 518,000 in premiere week.

AEW continues to trounce NXT in key demos. Last it, AEW outdrew NXT in the male 18-34 demo by a 0.52 to 0.12 margin last night. It wasn’t much better in the M18-49 demo, with AEW outdrawing NXT by a 0.62 to 0.23 margin. Among all adults 18-49, AEW drew 0.45 compared to NXT’s 0.21.

The actual cable rating for AEW was 0.62, down from 0.75 the prior week. NXT ticked up to 0.55 indicating those who tuned in at all watched for a longer period of time and brought the average minute-by-minute viewership up even as the total number of different people watching throughout the show was down slightly.

The gap closing between the shows could be due to Finn Balor being added to the mix, or just some people deciding to give AEW a few weeks of their time and now they’ve decided it’s not for them or they’re not hooked. Of course, too much can be made of one week, especially when up against a World Series game. The trend line, though, is down for both shows, with AEW losing more than NXT week over week, but AEW holding strong in the key demos and even going up in the M18-34 demo to the second-highest yet and holding steady in the 18-49 demo the last three weeks.

In the 18-49 demo, AEW finished no. 4 overall on cable (the World Series was on Fox, a broadcast network), behind two ESPN NBA games (which drew demo ratings of 0.8 and 0.7 compared to AEW’s 0.5) and FX’s “American Hour Story” which drew a demo rating of 0.6. NXT snuck back into the top 25 with their 0.2 demo rating.


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15 Comments on AEW vs. NXT Ratings Report: Both shows lose viewers, NXT closes gap with AEW, AEW trounces NXT in key younger demos, both land in top 25

  1. “The gap between the two shows shrunk to the lowest yet” – Subtracting the two viewership numbers will mislead as the overall viewership declines. For two shows with ratings A and B, instead of taking the difference a better way to look at what is happening is to take a ratio (e.g. A/B or (A-B)/B ). For example, this week NXT had 72% of the viewership of AEW, while last week the ratio was 70%. So yes, one could say that NXT has reduced the “gap”, but it’s actually a rather small change.

  2. Who cares about NXT? Full Sail looks uglier than the ECW Arena and it is just one giant advertisement for their Raw and Smackdown. AEW rebounded from a weak show last week and SCU against the Lucha Bros is going to be really good next week.

    • Not true. I’m only counting the weeks that they went head-to-head, btw. Not the two weeks NXT went unopposed. Obviously the viewership going to be larger those two weeks. Anyway, AEW has lost about 450,000 viewers since the first week. NXT has lost fewer than 200,000. AEW does win the coveted 18-34 M, though, which advertisers like.

        • NXT will catch AEW and pass them. AEW is a joke except for some of the main event guys, and even they are overrated.

          BTW, I responded to your attacks on the Raw report from last week. Seth isn’t a heel just because he got booed. That would make Cena and Reigns heels too if true.

  3. I watched and enjoyed both shows, I don’t give a damn about ratings or key demos or any of that other BS, as long as I have my fun watching, that’s all that matters.

    AEW and NXT are putting on solid shows and will hopefully continue to do so and if that happens – we, the fans are really going to be the winners.

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