Breakdown Of Declining Wrestling Ratings Due To Pandemic

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has a look at how badly the COVID-19 pandemic has affected ratings in WWE, AEW and Impact from February to July.

RAW had a huge drop this year in the five-month period, getting an average of 2,288,000 viewers and a 0.74 in the key 18-49 demographic in February, which dropped 29.1% in July. Last month it had 1,623,000 viewers and a rating of 0.48. It went from 0.40 to 0.21 in 12-17 (down 47.5%), 0.53 to 0.26 in 18-34 (down 50.9%), 0.96 to 0.69 in 35-49 (down 28.1%) and 0.96 to 0.78 in 50+ (down 18.8%). The audience was 65.7% male in 18-49 in February and 66.1% in July. The 35.1% drop in 18-49 was 34.7% male and 35.9% female. In teenagers, it went from 67.5% male in February to 61.2% male in July, a drop of 52.4% for boys and 37.3% for girls.

Smackdown had 2,542,000 and a 0.75 in 18-49 in February, dropping to 1,878,000 viewers and a 0.46, down 26.1% in viewers and 38.7% in the demo. So Smackdown’s drop was less than RAW with viewers but worse in the demo.

NXT had 760,000 viewers in February and then 701,000 in July, a drop of 7.8%. It dropped 25% in the demo, going from 0.24 to 0.18. Although it has been steadily ticking up so it may be on an upward trend, if this week is any indication. It dropped 0.11 to 0.08 (down 27.3%) in 12-17, 0.15 to 0.09 in 18-34 (down 40%), 0.32 to 0.28 in 35-49 (down 12.5%). In an interesting note, there was no change in the 50+ demo with this show, as it was 0.37 in Feb and July. The audience was 64.8% male in 18-49 in February and 61.5% in July. That means there was a drop in 18-49 of 28.8% male and 18% female. In teenagers, it went from 64.2% male in February to 48.9% male in July, a drop of 44% for boys, but teenage girls were actually up 3.8%. This is the only demo for any WWE show that improved during the pandemic.

AEW had 876,000 viewers in February and 774,000 in July, a drop of 11.6%, but it held younger viewers better than the WWE shows. AEW dropped from 0.30 in 18-49 to 0.28 (down 6.7%). In 12-17, it went up 16.7% from 0.12 in February to 0.14 in July. In 18-34, it went from 0.20 in February to 0.17 in July (down 15%). In 35-49, it went from 0.44 to 0.42 (down 4.5%). In 50+ it dropped from 0.36 to 0.29 (19.4%). It went from 68% male in February to 66.8% in July, down 8.3% with men and 3.2% with women. In teenagers 12-17, it went from 69.2% male to 59.3%, up 1.7%. Teenage girls were up 54.2%.

Impact went from 181,000 viewers in February to 153,000 in July, a 15.5% drop. In 18-49, it went from 54,000 to 44,000 (down 18.5%). It dropped 5.9% in 18-34 and 24.3% in 35-49.