WWE NXT Stays Flat In The Ratings, Sees Increase In Female Viewership

With the schedule mostly cleared of NBA and NHL playoff games, the Nielsen ratings of the weekly wrestling TV shows should start normalizing to some degree. So far, the increases haven't been huge, with the biggest changes, for last Friday's "SmackDown," being more attributable to the Jimmy Uso turn in The Bloodline storyline. On Tuesday, "WWE NXT" had minimal competition outside of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," so where did it settle in at?

According to reporting from ShowbuzzDaily as well as the Wrestlenomics Twitter and Patreon pages, the June 6 "NXT" averaged  615,000 viewers across its 128 minutes (up one percent from last week), approximately 222,000 of which were in the "key demo" most valued by advertisers, adults aged 18 to 49 (no change from the week prior). The latter figure translates to a 0.17 rating in P18-49, which earned "NXT" fifth place in ShowbuzzDaily's rankings of Wednesday's cable originals. (Last week's fourth-place standing was tied for the highest in the show's history.)

For a more extensive picture, the Wrestlenomics Patreon page tracks how "NXT" did in various demographics in relation to the median of the prior four weeks' numbers. By that metric, the biggest percentage swings by far came in the female viewer demographics being tracked, with women aged 18 to 49 up 22 percent and female viewers aged 12 to 34 up 18 percent. All other shifts, whether positive or negative were well within Nielsen's stated ten-percent margin of error. As has become the norm, the women of "NXT" were used prominently throughout the show, with Blair Davenport's first match back since a hiatus to get her work visa in order and Thea Hail winning a battle royal for a shot at Tiffany Stratton's "NXT" Women's Title being the highlights.