WWE NXT Audience Down Going Into Takeover, AEW Dynamite Scores Year-Low Rating In Key Demo
Week 77 of the Wednesday Night War saw AEW Dynamite defeat WWE NXT in viewership and ratings.
Wednesday's new edition of Dynamite drew 700,000 total viewers on TNT, while the live "Takeover: Stand and Deliver" go-home edition of NXT drew 654,000 viewers on the USA Network, according to Nielsen via Showbuzz Daily.
AEW ranked #7 in the Cable Top 150 for the 18-49 demo, while NXT ranked #12. AEW ranked #69 in total viewership, tying with The Murder Tapes on Investigation Discovery, while NXT ranked #70.
Last week's Dynamite show drew 757,000 viewers and ranked #6 on the Cable Top 150, and #60 in viewership. Last week's NXT show drew 678,000 viewers and ranked #29 on the Cable Top 150, and #64 in viewership.
AEW drew a 0.26 rating in the 18-49 demographic while NXT drew a 0.21 in the same demo this week. Last week's AEW show drew a 0.30 rating while the NXT episode drew a 0.14 in that demographic.
AEW beat NXT in total viewers by 7% this week, and by 23.8% in the 18-49 key demographic rating. The 23.8% margin was the smallest for AEW in the key demo for an opposed night since June 24, 2020.
AEW was down 7.5% in total viewers from last week's show, and down 13% in the 18-49 key demo rating. Dynamite was tied with the January 6 show for the worst key demo rating of the year, but that was on the night of the Capitol riot and cable news dominated.
This week's Dynamite viewership was up 2.2% from the same week in 2020, while the key demo rating was up 4% from the same week in 2020.
NXT was down 3.5% in total viewers from last week, while the key demo rating was up a whopping 50%. This was tied with January 27 show as the best 18-49 rating of this year.
This week's NXT viewership was up 11% from the same week in 2020, while the 18-49 key demo rating was up 40% from the same week in 2020.
The Challenge on MTV topped the night in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.52 rating, drawing just 913,000 viewers. The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC topped the night in viewership with 3.251 million viewers, ranking #6 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.27 rating in the key demo.
Chicago Fire on NBC topped the night on network TV in viewership with an average of 7.352 million viewers. The Masked Singer on FOX took the #1 spot in the 18-49 demographic with a 1.20 rating.
Below is our 2021 NXT Viewership Tracker:
January 6 Episode: 641,000 viewers with a 0.16 rating in the 18-49 demographic (New Year's Evil episode)
January 13 Episode: 551,000 viewers with a 0.14 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 20 Episode: 659,000 viewers with a 0.15 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 27 Episode: 720,000 viewers with a 0.21 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 3 Episode: 610,000 viewers with a 0.15 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 10 Episode: 558,000 viewers with a 0.12 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 17 Episode: 713,000 viewers with a 0.16 rating in the 18-49 demographic (post-Takeover episode)
February 24 Episode: 734,000 viewers with a 0.18 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 3 Episode: 692,000 viewers with a 0.20 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 10 Episode: 691,000 viewers with a 0.18 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 17 Episode: 597,000 viewers with a 0.13 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 24 Episode: 678,000 viewers with a 0.14 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 31 Episode: 654,000 viewers with a 0.21 rating in the 18-49 demographic
April 7 Episode:
2020 Total: 37.027 million viewers over 53 episodes
2020 Average: 698,623 viewers per episode
2019 Total: 10.209 million viewers over 13 episodes
2019 Average: 785,307 viewers per episode
Below is our 2021 AEW Dynamite Viewership Tracker:
January 6 Episode: 662,000 viewers with a 0.25 rating in the 18-49 demographic (New Year's Smash Night 1 episode)
January 13 Episode: 762,000 viewers with a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic (New Year's Smash Night 2 episode)
January 20 Episode: 854,000 viewers with a 0.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic
January 27 Episode: 734,000 viewers with a 0.29 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 3 Episode: 844,000 viewers with a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demographic (Beach Break episode)
February 10 Episode: 741,000 viewers with a 0.29 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 17 Episode: 747,000 viewers with a 0.31 rating in the 18-49 demographic
February 24 Episode: 831,000 viewers with a 0.35 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 3 Episode: 934,000 viewers with a 0.33 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 10 Episode: 743,000 viewers with a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demographic (post-Revolution episode)
March 17 Episode: 768,000 viewers with a 0.28 rating in the 18-49 demographic (St. Patrick's Day Slam episode)
March 24 Episode: 757,000 viewers with a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic
March 31 Episode: 700,000 viewers with a 0.26 rating in the 18-49 demographic
April 7 Episode:
2020 Total: 42.970 million viewers over 53 episodes
2020 Average: 810,755 viewers per episode
2019 Total: 10.840 million viewers over 12 episodes
2019 Average: 903,333 viewers per episode