The Pro Wrasslin' Thread (WWE, WWF, WCW, TNA, ROH, NWA, NJPW, etc)

[PAOerfulone]

Runa216 said:

Jumpin said:

AEW beat RAW in the key demographic ratings!

AEW Dynamite scored 1.319 million viewers, and 681,000 in the 18-49 key demographic range, which surpasses RAW's 678,000 viewers. That's pretty awesome that finally someone was able to surpass the ancien regime. Although, when it comes to aged 50+ viewers, RAW still leads. That's the next milestone for AEW, beating RAW.
I'm not American and have no idea what this "Cable TV" and "Network TV" thing means, but apparently AEW topped Cable TV for the night, and Big Brother topped Network TV ratings.

Also in the news: even though NXT is no longer on Wednesday nights, Adam Cole still is.

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2021/09/aew-dynamite-scores-best-audience-and-key-demo-rating-since-premiere/

Sadly, WWE hasn't cared about ratings in years. IT's been about the brand deals and merchandising. 

I greatly prefer AEW in virtually every way (WWE's women division is still marginally better), but like...they're fighting different battles here. Paraphrasing here, but you wouldn't judge its fish by its ability to climb a tree...Different promotions have different goals. 

That said, holy shit that's awesome. AEW is the only reason I'm still watching pro wrestling and I gotta say, I'm impressed! 

USA Network and NBCUniversal most certainly do. And that's reason enough for WWE to care very much about ratings too.

Now reportedly, WWE gets $265 million a year from USA Network and NBCUniversal for RAW

Meanwhile, AEW gets $43.75 million a year from TNT and WarnerMedia for Dynamite.

And the fact that the Key Demo, the 18-49 Adult demographic, the one ALL the networks pay attention to, is THIS high for them at THAT price for a show that's not even 2 years old yet is an absolute steal for WarnerMedia and TNT. They are absolutely thrilled with that number. Meanwhile, USA Network and NBCUniversal are paying a little over 6 times the amount TNT and Warner have to pay for similar results. I guarantee you they are absolutely NOT happy with that AT ALL. Especially considering how RAW's ratings have consistently being going down every year for last 7 years. And based on how shit RAW has consistently been, you can bet that drop will continue. And if AEW keeps the momentum rolling like they have, THEIR ratings will slowly but surely keep going up. So if that's the case, we're going to reach the point where Dynamite starts beating RAW in the demo more and more often (Hell, it may happen again in a few weeks at the Arthur Ashe show with now that Monday Night Football is back)... They may even overtake them entirely. And if we get to that point, overall viewership won't be too far off.

And BOTH of their TV rights deals are due to expire in 2023, and if both shows continue their trends, that's going to make those contract negotiations VERY interesting. 

Last edited by PAOerfulone - on 10 September 2021