Tony Khan Discusses Importance Of Upcoming AEW TV Rights Deal
In January 2020, it was announced that All Elite Wrestling and WarnerMedia had extended their agreed television rights deal — initially signed in May 2019 — for the company's flagship show, "AEW Dynamite," through 2023. The new terms also saw "AEW Rampage" added to the agreement, which is now AEW's secondary weekly television show. The company is reportedly taking in just under $45 million per year in 2020, with an option inserted into the deal for TNT to re-sign AEW in 2024 at a significantly increased price.
With WarnerMedia and Discovery completing a merger to become Warner Bros Discovery Inc. earlier this year, AEW President Tony Khan has stressed the importance of the promotion's next TV deal.
"I think there is still a lot of time left for the next rights deal," Khan told the New York Post. "I do believe our future media rights will be important and frankly a very large revenue stream for AEW going forward."
"Whenever our next media right deal, the next one does kick in, it will be historic," Khan continued. "We expect it's going to go very well for us based on how strong we've been performing."
"Dynamite" currently airs on TBS each Wednesday night, while "Rampage" airs each Friday night on TNT. "Dynamite" has attracted over one million viewers on seven separate occasions this year, with the key demo (18-49) ranging between 0.28 and 0.44 throughout 2022. "Rampage," however, has attracted 600,000 viewers or more on just two occasions this year, with its lowest drawing night in history airing on May 6, where 292,000 fans tuned in — partly due to the broadcast airing at the unfamiliar time of 5:30 PM ET due to TNT's scheduling.
Khan regularly touts AEW's viewership success on social media. On July 8, he tweeted out his thanks to the AEW fans for making "Dynamite" Wednesday's "#1 show on cable/satellite for 3 straight weeks!" This was despite viewership slightly decreasing on the July 6 episode by 44,000 viewers, although the key demo remained at 0.36