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Ratings swing up for both AEW and WWE programming

September 13, 2020 by Jason Cruz Leave a Comment

This past week, all three pro wrestling programs produced great numbers.  Notably, AEW surpassed 1 million viewers on Wednesday night for the first time since its first month and SmackDown recorded its best numbers in months.

AEW on TNT Wednesday night drew 1.016M viewers on Wednesday night. It drew 0.37 in the A18-49 and 0.51 in M18-49 per Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily.

Friday Night Smackdown on Fox drew 2.246 in the first hour and 2.286 in the second hour Friday.  It was the highest rating on the network in several months.  It drew a 0.6 in the A18-49 demo and a 5 share of M18-49.

NXT on the USA Network Tuesday drew 838,000 viewers per Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily.  It drew 0.22 in the A18-49 and 0.29 in M18-49.  It aired on Tuesday due to NHL Hockey on USA Wednesday evening.

Payout Perspective:

A good sign for both WWE and AEW that pro wrestling viewership is on the upswing as we head into fall.  The ratings mid-week reflect the fact that if both programs were on separate nights, each would have more viewership.  So, even though the ratings wars are interesting to read about, if both telecasts were on separate nights, they’d grab crossover viewership. 

Filed Under: AEW, Friday Night SmackDown, WWE

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