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And we're back.
After an extended hiatus from the ratings article, it returns with all new stats and numbers. Rather than simply comparing each show to the previous weeks I've now added a rolling 4-week average for ratings, a year-to-year comparison for the most recent week and a simple week-to-week comparison. That's it, it's a more streamlined presentation than ever, and at least for the time being we're only focusing on P2+ (total viewers) and P18-49 ratings, ignoring the more granular demos because the upkeep on those was a nightmare.
So here we go.
WWE Raw had their post-Royal Rumble edition this week, usually a very good rating as football season has now finished and we're on the Road To Wrestlemania™. This week we also had the returning Edge, his first appearance on Raw in 7 months, and an appearance by Bad Bunny, one of the biggest names in music today. So, how did they do. Well they pulled in 1.892m total viewers, up 74,000 / 4% from last week which is good on the surface, but down 21.2% year over year. And look, maybe it's too early to judge the Bad Bunny thing, but despite how big a star he is, those fans haven't translated over to Raw as of now. The P18-49 number tells a similar story, up 11.5% from last week but down 23.7% from last year. Raw's last 4 weeks average 1,845,000 viewers and a 0.57, not incredible numbers but if they can hold out here it's not much to worry about
Impact had a much less interesting week, up 26.5% from last week and 24% year over year, but percentages will always be skewed by how low Impact's ratings are, those jumps equate to just 39k and 36k in actual viewers. The P18-49 number is equal to last year and up 0.02 (66%) from last week. So it seems like the AEW angle hasn't caught on massively but is adding some level of interest to the show. Their 4-week average is 161k and 0.04, not incredible numbers but it's hard to compare them to much else given how small a station Impact is on.
AEW have had a pretty rough January, the Wednesday night slot has been hit with some of the biggest news and when they finally had a proper unopposed week their feed went down for the first 15-20 on streaming platforms which almost certainly drove off viewers. This all equated to a viewership number of 734k in the last week (down 137k/16% from last year, and down 120k/14.1% from last week) and a 0.29 in P18-49 (down 0.06/17% from last year, and down 0.07/19% from last week). These are fairly disappointing but with Beach Break coming up this week with some major matches announced AEW should rebound in a good way. Over the last 4 weeks AEW have averaged 753k and a 0.3, fairly respectable but with January out of the way it looks like they might recover somewhat.
NXT had to suffer through the same January as NXT, though weren't hit by the technical problems so had a slightly easier time. They drew 720k total viewers last week, up 61k/9.3% from last week, and only down 49k/6.4% year to year. On a purely one week basis NXT are actually holding up the best of "The Big 4" TV shows from last, and are second to Impact overall. The P18-49 tells a similar story, though the week-to-week percentage increase is slightly skewed by how small the number was beforehand. They got a 0.21 last week, their best number since November 3rd and up 0.06/40% from last week. However, this number was still down 12.5% from last year, which isn't a great sign for NXT. Over the last 4 weeks they've averaged 642k total viewers and a 0.17 in P18-49.
Finally we come to Smackdown, who have recently been on a roll of quality ratings. Last week for the Rumble go-home show they scored 2.304m viewers, down 3.3% from the week before, and down 6.7% from last year. These aren't great numbers but given they are still a pandemic with empty arena shows (unless you count the Thunderdome and ... you shouldn't) they're not a major concern. The P18-49 has dropped slightly more from last year, the 0.62 was down 11.4% from 2020 but still, this isn't a major problem as they rebound from the lows of the summer. They currently have a 4-week average of 2.267m and a 0.62, by far the most viewed wrestling show and if they can maintain these levels it'll be good.
And that's it for this month, you can find me @WhyIsChester on Twitter for any questions, and enjoy the full numbers below.
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