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Hello and welcome to my second weekly article about the US TV ratings for wrestling shows.
A week marked by the fallout of several PPVs, a media scrum that will still be talked about for a long time and the NFL that is starting again and will dominate TV for many months.
RAW Ratings (5th September) :
Ratings : 2 054 000 (-2,52 %) & 0.58 sur les 18-49 [-0.01]
Ratings per hour :
H1 : [P2+ : 2 088 000] [18-49 : 0.60] [Cable Pos : 3]
H2 : [P2+ : 2 120 000] [18-49 : 0.60] [Cable Pos : 2]
H3 : [P2+ : 1 954 000] [18-49 : 0.54] [Cable Pos : 4]
RAW attacks September by staying above 2 million viewers and with a solid 18-49 demo. All this in a context that must be highlighted. Indeed, this September 5 was under the sign of "Labor Day" in the United States. A holiday that usually leads to a lower overall TV audience.
Add to that the presence of College Football on ESPN which finished first on cable (American Football is the king of US TV) with an audience of 4 859 000 and 1.36 on 18-49. Interesting beginnings since the NFL regular season resumes on September 9.
RAW will then have, as of next week (September 12), a head-to-head NFL game until the end of the season. The real challenge for Paul "Triple H" Levesque will be there.
Ratings NXT 2.0 (6th September) :
Ratings : 684 000 (+1,18 %) & 0.16 sur les 18-49 [+0.01]
Cable Pos : 12 th.
A post-PLE episode with NXT Worlds Collide did not see the ratings take off. The sports competition was the same as last week with the presence of the US Open on ESPN (1,786,000 viewers and 0.38 in the 18-49 demographic).
No PLE effect, but the momentum remains pretty positive for the show. It remains to be seen if there is a glass ceiling or if the re-runs of the various sports seasons will also hurt NXT's ratings.
Ratings AEW Dynamite (7th September) :
Ratings : 1 035 000 (+1,46 %) & 0.38 sur les 18-49 [+0.03]
Cable Pos : 2nd.
Peak audience → Q1:1,221,000 (and about 0.47 on 18-49)
Recap of All Out, video of Tony Khan (announcements on the World Championship and Trios Championships), and promos from MJF & Jon Moxley.
Many thanks to Brandon Thurston for this quarterly data.
A particularly anticipated episode that follows the All Out PPV as well as the Media Scrum where CM Punk made the news between his statements and the altercations backstage that led to several suspensions. The show didn't face much sports competition this week, only a reality show did better on cable (1,222,000 viewers and 0.39 in the 18-49 demographic).
The show mainly won in the 18-49 demographic (+0.03) with a rather stable audience. However, we note two things:
A significant gain in the "Male 18-49" category, which went from 0.47 to 0.52. Such figures had not happened since the June 1st episode.
With Brandon Thurston's quarterly data, it's easy to see how consistently the audience has gone throughout the program. Going from 1,221,000 and 0.47 in the first quarter, to dropping to 881,000 and 0.31 in the last 15 minutes.
Ratings Impact Wrestling (8th September) :
Ratings : 60 000 (-42,31 %) & 0.01 sur les 18-49 [-0.01]
Cable Pos : Not in the top 150.
Just a quick note on Impact Wrestling this week, who had to deal with the opening game of the NFL regular season. Unfortunately for them, American Football is THE giant of American TV, crushing everything in its path. Impact Wrsetling is no exception.
Ratings Smackdown (9th September) :
Ratings : 2 367 000 (+13,96 %) & 0.57 sur les 18-49 [+0.08]
Smackdown is without a doubt the winner this week. Very big score for the post PLE show "Clash at the Castle" with a gain of 14% on P2+ and 16% on 18-49. With moreover the absence of Roman Reigns on this episode. The show was 2nd on TV just behind the US Open which started its second competition on ESPN with an audience of 2,961,000 and a solid 0.67 in the 18-49 demo.
Encouraging scores for Smackdown if they can stabilize at this level after a more complicated month of August.
Ratings AEW Rampage (9th September) :
Ratings : 429 000 (-11,55 %) & 0.14 sur les 18-49 [-0.02]
Cable Pos : 16th.
An episode that was quite expected for everything that happened at All Out (and after) as well as for the posters offered. The competition was exactly the same as for Smackdown with the US Open, which was held over 5 hours.
We quickly fall back to the usual standards of Rampage in terms of numbers. It will be interesting to see if the Rampage "Grand Slam" will be able to attract the curious despite the fact that it is not live.
A format that remains very complicated, but the most important thing for the company and the channel is the scores that Dynamite makes.
For more updates on WWE and AEW TV ratings, please follow Lariate Wrestle on Twitter @Lariate_Wrestle.