Nielsen Adjusts Methodology, Leading To Rise In WWE/AEW Ratings

While many of wrestling's mainstream weekly shows have moved to streaming platforms, broadcast television ratings remain a strong indicator of a promotion's success. Such a trend is set to continue after a recent adjustment in Nielsen's television rating methodology resulted in a bump in television ratings for several promotions.

Per Variety, Nielsen's recent inclusion of data sets outside of the prototypical cable points, such as streaming numbers on non-television, video-capable devices (smartphones and tablets) and shared streaming and e-commerce accounts, has resulted in a Nielsen's ratings boost across a majority of television broadcast — including professional wrestling programming, according to Wrestlenomics. TNA's "iMPACT," WWE's "NXT" and "SmackDown," and AEW's "Collision" and "Dynamite" all saw a boost in viewership numbers following Nielsen's adjustments. Most shows also saw increases in the key P18-49 demographic, with "NXT" only missing out due to broadcaster CW's status an over-the-air network, as opposed to cable.

While most of wrestling's broadcasts benefitted from the change, some promotions improved more than others. AEW's "Collision" saw its viewership and ratings roughly double: the program went from 246,000 viewers to 478,000, and a 0.04 P18-49 rating to 0.08. "Dynamite" saw significant growth as well, going from 503,000 viewers and a 0.09 key demo rating to an average of 651,000 viewers, with a 0.12 key demo rating. "SmackDown's" numbers improved — albeit, not as much as AEW's. "SmackDown's" average of 1.1 million viewers and a 0.26 P18-49 rating rose to 1.2 million viewers, with a 0.30 P18-49 rating. "iMPACT" went from an average of 172,000 viewers to 232,000, and a key demo rating of 0.04 to 0.05.

Despite the boost, longer wrestling programs seem to be at a disadvantage. Wrestlenomics' analysis saw that episodes of "Dynamite," "Collision," and "SmackDown" with an over 90-minute run time performed worse than their sub-90 minute iterations, with "SmackDown's" three-hour broadcast seeing a 14% decrease in viewership.