.png)
Hello and welcome to another weekly article about the US TV ratings for wrestling shows.
The NFL kicks off with a bang, RAW takes the hit and AEW gets ready for Grand Slam. A few words on what to remember.
RAW Ratings (12th September) :
Ratings : 1 710 000 (-16,75 %) & 0.44 sur les 18-49 [-0.14]
Ratings per hour :
H1 : [P2+ : 1 783 000] [18-49 : 0.45] [Cable Pos :8]
H2 : [P2+ : 1 821 000] [18-49 : 0.48] [Cable Pos : 7]
H3 : [P2+ : 1 525 000] [18-49 : 0.39] [Cable Pos : 9]
As anticipated, the return of the NFL and "Monday Night Football" hurt, very badly. Indeed, RAW was facing the Seattle Seehawks vs. the Denver Broncos game which gathered a thunderous audience of 19,793,000 viewers with a 5.59 in the 18-49 demographic. The game was broadcasted on 3 channels: ABC, ESPN and ESPN 2.
Also noteworthy was the presence of the annual Emmy Awards (5,924,000 & 1.09) on NBC which was also broadcast at the same time as the red show.
With that said and with Triple H now in charge, it was interesting to see if RAW held up better to the return of the NFL than in previous years. The answer is yes. In fact, the ratings are better than in 2021 (when the show did 1,670,000 & 0.42) and in 2020.
Despite the drop that seems impressive, Monday Night RAW is doing quite well this time, but caution is still advised, as the NFL season is still long until the Super Bowl. If RAW can hold the 1,800,000 viewers over the duration of the NFL, it would be a real achievement. We'll have to see how Triple H does.
Ratings NXT 2.0 (13th September) :
Ratings : 728 000 (+6,43 %) & 0.15 sur les 18-49 [-0.01]
Cable Pos : 14 th.
The 18-49 demographic is dropping slightly, while the P2 audience has reached 728,000, a level not reached since October 26, 2021, a great achievement. The trend of a positive evolution can slowly be felt for several months and starts to be read on the charts.
We can also note that they insisted at the end of the show on a new coloring of the NXT logo which will lose its "2.0" notion and go back to a yellow and white theme.
There was some (non-sports) competition with Bachelorette (3,546,000 & 0.77) on ABC and "America's got talent" (7,025,000 & 0.79) on NBC. No big show on cable that night.
Ratings AEW Dynamite (14th September) :
Ratings : 1 175 000 (+13,53 %) & 0.39 sur les 18-49 [+0.01]
Cable Pos : 1st.
Peak audience (18-49) → Q8: 1,1880,000 (and about 0.42 on 18-49)
Bryan Danielson vs Chris Jericho.
Many thanks to Brandon Thurston for this quarterly data.
Huge audience gain! For the 4th time in a row, AEW Dynamite is above 1 million viewers, for the first time in 2022, records its best P2+ audience since September 22, 2021 and seems to find a good rhythm despite notable absences following the backstage altercation.
The next episode is even more important as it will be AEW Grand Slam, an important show for the company and the fans. The numbers should stay on this positive trend.
A few more tidbits of information:
AEW Dynamite finished in first or second place on cable for the 16th straight week.
The ratings for the entire show were really steady, which is not always the case. The gaps never exceeded +/- 10% over the entire episode. The episode of stability.
This Dynamite won mainly on the 18-34 demographic where it went from a 0.24 to 0.30, the best score since March.
Ratings Smackdown (16th September) :
Ratings : 2 210 000 (-6,55 %) & 0.50 sur les 18-49 [-0.07]
The ghost of the NFL isn't that far from Smackdown either, with College Football airing on ESPN and scoring nicely with 2,753,000 viewers and an 18-49 demographic of 0.77.
Not much to note this week except that Roman Reigns will be on next week. That should give a little boost to the audience before his confrontation with Logan Paul.
Ratings AEW Rampage (16th September) :
Ratings : 470 000 (+9,56 %) & 0.14 sur les 18-49 [+/-0.00]
Cable Pos : 14th.
Good numbers. The demographics didn't move, but the audience did. The show has also faced College Football on ESPN like Smackdown. Despite this, Rampage still struggles to consistently crack the top 10 on cable, but it's not far off either for a show that airs at 10:00PM.
The hype for AEW Grand Slam is there, and it will be important to capitalize on the recent good ratings for both Dynamite and Rampage. The elements are in place to hope to launch an even more positive dynamic before the comeback of the NBA.
For more updates on WWE and AEW TV ratings, please follow Lariate Wrestle on Twitter @Lariate_Wrestle.