AEW Increased Average Amount of Viewers Year-to-Year, WWE Shows Dropped

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has year-to-year comparisons for the ratings and viewership of several shows, showing that WWE shows lost viewers on average while AEW had better numbers than it did this time last year. As a caveat, the report only measured a period between mid-November and last for 2019 and 2020 and removed episodes with “artificial highs” like Smackdown’s debut on FOX or the Brodie Lee tribute show for Dynamite.

During this period, RAW averaged 1,722,000 viewers with a 0.51 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic, as well as a 0.28 in 18-34. This is down from the year before, which had an average of 2,130,000 viewers (down 19.2%, 8% among non-news), a 0.67 in 18-49 (down 23.9%) and a 0.43 (down 34.9%) in 18-34. So not only are the numbers going down, but the audience is getting older due to the declines under the age of 50.

Smackdown also dropped, but still held up better than RAW. It averaged 2,207,000 viewers and a 0.60 in 18-49 this year. This is down 7.7% (2,392,000) from last year in viewers and 16.7% (0.72) in the demo, which also shows an aging audience.

Dynamite averaged 855,000 viewers, 0.36 in 18-49 and 0.23 in 18-34 this year, which the only show between both companies to go up. Last year during this same period, it averaged 774,000 viewers, a 0.30 rating in 18-49 and 0.19 in 18-34. This is an increase of 10.5% (viewers), 20% (18-49) and 21.1% (18-34). The average age went down overall, year-to-year.

NXT averaged 686,000 viewers and a 0.17 in 18-49. NXT had several weeks where it didn’t hart in the top 50, so there are no 18-34 ratings to compare. It’s a 17.2% drop in viewers from last year, where the show averaged 829,000 viewers. It’s also a drop of 37% in 18-49 from last year, which averaged a 0.27 rating.

NXT was beating AEW head-to-head in viewers this time last year, although AEW was getting younger viewers and winning in 18-49 in every week but one. The overall point is that WWE shows are losing viewers and getting older in the demographics. AEW, meanwhile, has managed to grow its audience, which is getting younger.