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Welcome to another weekly article about the US TV ratings for wrestling shows.
RAW goes all out to take on the NFL, AEW comes to Toronto and SmackDown holds its routine.
RAW Ratings (10th October) :
Ratings : 1 824 000 (+14,07 %) & 0.55 sur les 18-49 [+0.15]
Ratings per hour :
H1 : [P2+ : 1 876 000] [18-49 : 0.56] [Cable Pos :6]
H2 : [P2+ : 1 894 000] [18-49 : 0.57] [Cable Pos : 5]
H3 : [P2+ : 1 703 000] [18-49 : 0.53] [Cable Pos : 8]
It took a lot of ingredients to see a significant boost in the ratings of the red show that has been facing the NFL for several weeks now. This RAW, which served as a "Season Premier" (an event that usually attracts curious spectators, like the post-WrestleMania show, but to a much lesser extent), had promoted the 25th anniversary of Degeneration-X. But the show was mostly a follow-up to the Extreme Rules PLE, where Bray Wyatt's return created a lot of buzz, even though we'll learn later that Bray will be heading to SmackDown.
With all these elements, RAW once again faced an NFL that dominates, by far, American TV. The night's show (Kansas City Chiefs vs. Las Vegas Raiders) drew 15,787,000 viewers with a very solid 4.65 rating in the 18-49 demographic on ESPN.
With these very good numbers this week, it will be interesting to see how the October 17 episode goes back to normal and what happens to the ratings, although USA Network said it was happy with the new direction of RAW (Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful).
Ratings NXT (11th October) :
Ratings : 737 000 (+17,92 %) & 0.15 sur les 18-49 [+0.02]
Cable Pos : 14th.
Positive numbers for NXT, which recorded its best P2+ audience since Halloween Havoc 2021, though the 18-49 demographic is not a record for this 2022 year. These numbers are even more encouraging given the competition across the street, which, in addition to the usual national broadcasts, featured a major MLB (Baseball) game on TBS that scored a solid 5,345,000 (& 1.34). This bodes well for the upcoming Halloween Havoc on October 22.
In non-sports competition, we find FBI on CBS (7,406,000 & 0.55), Bachelor in Paradise on ABC (2,112,000 & 0.55) and The Voice on NBC (6,330,000 & 0.60).
Ratings AEW Dynamite (12th October) :
Ratings : 983 000 (-5,30 %) & 0.32 sur les 18-49 [-0.01]
Cable Pos : 4th.
Peak audience (18-49) → Q3: 1,071,000 (and about 0.34 on 18-49)
QT Marshall promo, Samoa Joe & Wardlow vs Nick Comoroto & QT Marshall, FTR promo, Chris Jericho & 2poin0 promo, first part of Billy Gunn vs Swerve Strickland.
Many thanks to Brandon Thurston for this quarterly data.
Dynamite made its Canada debut with its show in Toronto which fell back below a million viewers and lost 0.01 in the 18-49 demographic. These numbers are still strong given the TV environment and the evening's competition, including MLB on FOX and FoxSports, which combined for 7,304,000 viewers and a 1.47 in 18-49.
Nonetheless, it is worth noting that a trend is emerging in Dynamite's demographic ratings. Despite fluctuating (or even dropping) in the 18-49 demographic, the 50+ demographic has been on the rise for some time now.
A quick note to remind you that the NBA is back this week and that for the first day of the regular season, the next episode of Dynamite is not broadcast on the usual schedule but is moved to Tuesday (against NXT).
Ratings Smackdown (14th October) :
Ratings : 2 274 000 (+1,38 %) & 0.54 sur les 18-49 [+/-0.00]
First SmackDown post Extreme Rules where WWE had announced the presence of Bray Wyatt. Although it is still early to draw conclusions especially since elements of context vary a lot, we do not see a significant post-EP effect. Even if this simple sentence is to be qualified because the numbers of the blue show are good.
However, we note that the 18-49 demographic is stagnant for the 3rd week in a row, with this week's head-to-head MLB game that aired on FOX affiliate: Fox Sports and recorded an audience of 4,074,000 with a 1.07 in 18-49. These are still good numbers even if we could perhaps expect a little more given the buzz Bray Wyatt got when he came back.
Ratings AEW Rampage (14th October) :
Ratings : 458 000 (+13,37 %) & 0.17 sur les 18-49 [+0.04]
Cable Pos : 9th.
Very nice audience revival for this episode of Rampage which was not live and was also held in Tonronto. These figures are even more positive when we know that the show was facing the same MLB game as Smackdown on Fox News.
Encouraging numbers this week for Rampage who will have to try to maintain this level by flirting with a 0.20 on the 18-49 and 500 000 viewers. It will not be easy knowing the difficulties of the time slot, but a series of several shows with intrigue could create a small tremor and get a positive trend. This could weigh even more in their favor in the TV rights negotiations but Warner Bros Discovery seem to be really satisfied with AEW's scores (mainly Dynamite).
For more updates on WWE and AEW TV ratings, please follow Lariate Wrestle on Twitter @Lariate_Wrestle.
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