Ratings notes: WWE SmackDown, AEW Dynamite

[Big Red Machine]

https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/rati ... ite-343511

By Paul Fontaine | @PaulAceFontaine | Jun 7, 2021 9:47 pm

- SmackDown drew 1.883 million viewers on Fox for the June 4 episode of the show, down 2.3 percent from the previous week.

The show drew a 0.50 rating in the 18-49 demo, which is the same number it had done the previous two weeks in that category.

Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 5.1 percent in overall viewership from the same week in 2020 but had the same number in 18-49.

- AEW Dynamite, which aired on TNT right after SmackDown ended, averaged 462,000 viewers. That's down 12.2 percent from the previous week's show that aired in the same Friday time slot.

It was the record low viewership for Dynamite for the second week in a row.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite also set a series low with a 0.19 rating, down five percent from last week.

Year-over-year comparisons aren't really fair given that they are being compared to a time when Dynamite ran in prime time on their regular night, but the show was down 36.7 percent in viewership and 34.5 percent in the demo. Dynamite also ran head-to-head with NXT at that time.

During the NBA playoffs, Dynamite has been airing outside of its normal day and time slot due to scheduling conflicts.

- The June 1 episode of NXT on the USA Network averaged 668,000 viewers, down 4.3 percent from last week. That's down 6.6 percent from the same week last year when the show ran head-to-head with Dynamite. The 18-49 number is not currently available.

[cero2k]

It's imperative that AEW returns to Wednesdays

[Big Red Machine]

Obviously I'm using a small sample size here, and AEW has some factors going both for it and against it, but between this (and I'm less likely to cut them slack for last week because it was the second Friday show in a row), what I remember from NXT's last post-PPV show, and Raw and SD not doing well post-PPV, either (at least based on my recent memory), is it possible that the days of the general post-PPV bump are over now that most people don't have to put any effort into finding out who won? Are we now in an era where you need to end your PPV with a hook if you want to get a bump in viewership for the first post-PPV TV show?

[Big Red Machine]

It's imperative that AEW returns to Wednesdays

Yeah, this is making that move to Fridays look like really bad news.

[Big Red Machine]

Here is Wade Keller bringing a little more nuance than the Observer crew (as usual), talking about DVR viewership and so forth

By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

June 8, 2021


AEW Dynamite last Friday night (6/4) drew 462,000 total live and same night viewers (0.38 cable rating), down from 526,000 (0.43 cable rating) the prior Friday night (5/28) in the same 9-11 ET timeslot immediately following Smackdown, according to a PWTorch TV industry source.

AEW has been preempted the last two weeks from the usual Wednesday 8 p.m. ET timeslot to Friday at 10 p.m. ET due to NBA playoff games on TNT.

AEW had drawn 821,000 (0.62 rating) and 936,000 (0.66 cable rating) the prior two Wednesday nights; the lower total was up against President Biden’s first address to Congress.

The Friday, May 28 episode that drew 526,000 viewers leaped to 817,000 after three additional days, an increase of nearly 300,000 viewers. The prior week’s 821,000 premiere night viewership grew to 998,000 after three days, an increase of just under 180,000. The week before that, the 936,000 premiere night viewers grew to 1,089,000 viewers, an increase of merely roughly 150,000 viewers.

That indicates that many viewers who usually watch Dynamite didn’t find Friday night at 10 ET a convenient timeslot, but made a point to watch on DVR over the weekend. Not all viewers who typically watch live on Wednesdays have access to a DVR, so the inconvenient later Friday slot is going to lead to some viewers missing the show entirely. AEW is still down in terms of overall viewership, but not as much after three days of delayed viewership as the initial premiere night data indicates. We should have some seven day total information over the next week or two.

The main 18-49 demographic rating was 0.19 last Friday (6/4), down from 0.20 the prior Friday (5/28). That’s down from 0.28 and 0.31. One year ago this past week, Dynamite drew a 0.44 key demo rating.

In the male 18-49 demo, last Friday’s episode drew 0.25, down slightly from the 0.26 the prior week. It had drawn 0.37 and 0.44 the prior two weeks.

The sharpest dropoff came among the younger 18-34 male demo. The last two episodes drew matching 0.10 and 0.10 ratings, down from the 0.17 and 0.25 rating the prior two weeks in that demo.

[cero2k]

Here is Wade Keller bringing a little more nuance than the Observer crew (as usual), talking about DVR viewership and so forth

it was mentioned in both WOR and WOL about the DVR numbers

[Thelone]

Are DVR numbers now important? I get that the idea is to show that the usual viewers are taping it to watch it during the weekend or something and they aren't really losing anything despite the shitty ratings, but they still lost about 50k coming out of a PPV that was fairly well received.

There's a rumor going around that they might be phoning in those friday shows to change TNT execs' minds about putting Rampage there, and that's why they're packing the two saturday shows later this month. Of course it could be complete horseshit, but this week's show is also pretty lousy from what I've seen (another Cody announcement, another Sting/Darby promo, another fucking Bucks vs. Death Triangle match, and a bunch of glorified enhancement matches).

They're absolutely not trying with those is my point, and it shows.

[cero2k]

Are DVR numbers now important? I get that the idea is to show that the usual viewers are taping it to watch it during the weekend or something and they aren't really losing anything despite the shitty ratings, but they still lost about 50k coming out of a PPV that was fairly well received.

There's a rumor going around that they might be phoning in those friday shows to change TNT execs' minds about putting Rampage there, and that's why they're packing the two saturday shows later this month. Of course it could be complete horseshit, but this week's show is also pretty lousy from what I've seen (another Cody announcement, another Sting/Darby promo, another fucking Bucks vs. Death Triangle match, and a bunch of glorified enhancement matches).

They're absolutely not trying with those is my point, and it shows.

not for every show, but I think these friday ones are worth looking into. It be damaging to see people leave because of a date change and not even care about watching the show later, but seeing that the fans are still there, they just don't watch live is important and understandable. When NXT and AEW were on the same day, it was also important to really see the crossover, if both promotions had the same number, just not live, it indicated that they're both doing ok, there is just preference for live stuff on one show, but it doesn't mean that the other is a trainwreck.

As for 'phoning them in', I wouldn't call it that, but they're surely laying out the show to have the important stuff on the first hour, and the weaker stuff on the latter, given that it's midnight for a lot of people and you can't expect them to stay up that late. I don't think they're trying to send a message to be honest.

[Big Red Machine]

I think they matter in that they are people watching the show (and thus people the PPV hype is being targeted at) who don't show up in the live ratings.

[Thelone]

Like I said, I understand the logic behind it, but you look at the numbers given and I'm not seeing any positives. The may 28 show did 817k with +3 DVR viewership, which is still lower than the last "live" wednesday show alone, and much lower if you add the +3 of that. Same thing with the week before.

So yeah, the DVR numbers are bigger right now because of the bad timeslot, but they still lost between 119k (if we compare friday +3 with wednesday live) and 272k (friday +3 vs. wednesday +3) in a mere three weeks. There is no way to spin that as a positive.

[cero2k]

Like I said, I understand the logic behind it, but you look at the numbers given and I'm not seeing any positives. The may 28 show did 817k with +3 DVR viewership, which is still lower than the last "live" wednesday show alone, and much lower if you add the +3 of that. Same thing with the week before.

So yeah, the DVR numbers are bigger right now because of the bad timeslot, but they still lost between 119k (if we compare friday +3 with wednesday live) and 272k (friday +3 vs. wednesday +3) in a mere three weeks. There is no way to spin that as a positive.

There is no positive, no one is trying to spin it as such, they're in a time slot that is not theirs, not everyone has dvr, and not everyone wants to watch wrestling at midnight on a friday. When they go back to Wednesdays, they should be back up, if not, they should consider closing the promotion down.

[Big Red Machine]

Like I said, I understand the logic behind it, but you look at the numbers given and I'm not seeing any positives. The may 28 show did 817k with +3 DVR viewership, which is still lower than the last "live" wednesday show alone, and much lower if you add the +3 of that. Same thing with the week before.

So yeah, the DVR numbers are bigger right now because of the bad timeslot, but they still lost between 119k (if we compare friday +3 with wednesday live) and 272k (friday +3 vs. wednesday +3) in a mere three weeks. There is no way to spin that as a positive.

There is no positive, no one is trying to spin it as such, they're in a time slot that is not theirs, not everyone has dvr, and not everyone wants to watch wrestling at midnight on a friday. When they go back to Wednesdays, they should be back up, if not, they should consider closing the promotion down.

While they are in a time-slot that isn't theirs, I cut them a little less slack when it's later in the week rather than earlier because someone who tunes in on Wednesday expecting to see Dynamite and not finding it is still able to Google it and watch it live that week (as opposed to earlier in the week, when they would have missed it completely).

[cero2k]

While they are in a time-slot that isn't theirs, I cut them a little less slack when it's later in the week rather than earlier because someone who tunes in on Wednesday expecting to see Dynamite and not finding it is still able to Google it and watch it live that week (as opposed to earlier in the week, when they would have missed it completely).

it's not a matter of not finding it, it's a matter of 'who wants to watch wrestling on a friday at midnight?"' The majority of their fanbase are young and after a year, a lot of them are finally able to do stuff on Fridays. Or even just spend time with the family at the start of the weekend. Fridays and Saturdays have always been bad days for wrestling for that matter.

[Thelone]

There is no positive, no one is trying to spin it as such, they're in a time slot that is not theirs, not everyone has dvr, and not everyone wants to watch wrestling at midnight on a friday. When they go back to Wednesdays, they should be back up, if not, they should consider closing the promotion down.

It will be up, let's not be ridiculous, but they're needlessly shooting themselves in the foot with those shitty shows they've been presenting the last couple of weeks (and this week as well). Actually, the fact that they're announcing the card in advance every single week might be a detriment here because fans see what will be in store (and how it will play out most of the time, because AEW has the most controlled, bland, predictable format imaginable), think it's not worth the time and just skip the show altogether.

[cero2k]

There is no positive, no one is trying to spin it as such, they're in a time slot that is not theirs, not everyone has dvr, and not everyone wants to watch wrestling at midnight on a friday. When they go back to Wednesdays, they should be back up, if not, they should consider closing the promotion down.

It will be up, let's not be ridiculous, but they're needlessly shooting themselves in the foot with those shitty shows they've been presenting the last couple of weeks (and this week as well). Actually, the fact that they're announcing the card in advance every single week might be a detriment here because fans see what will be in store (and how it will play out most of the time, because AEW has the most controlled, bland, predictable format imaginable), think it's not worth the time and just skip the show altogether.

Yeap, I agree, I'm of the mentality of making your show a must see regardless of the time and day. Be it tradition or not, NJPW for instance runs WK on Jan 4 whether it falls on a Sunday or a Wednesday, and even at 3 in the morning, it's a must see show.

[Big Red Machine]

While they are in a time-slot that isn't theirs, I cut them a little less slack when it's later in the week rather than earlier because someone who tunes in on Wednesday expecting to see Dynamite and not finding it is still able to Google it and watch it live that week (as opposed to earlier in the week, when they would have missed it completely).

it's not a matter of not finding it, it's a matter of 'who wants to watch wrestling on a friday at midnight?"' The majority of their fanbase are young and after a year, a lot of them are finally able to do stuff on Fridays. Or even just spend time with the family at the start of the weekend. Fridays and Saturdays have always been bad days for wrestling for that matter.

But if you know when it's on, you can just set your DVR. That's my point.

and Fridays and Saturdays have absolutely NOT always been bad for wrestling. WCW Saturday Night? WWF syndication also used to almost always run on weekends during the 80s and early 90s.

[cero2k]

But if you know when it's on, you can just set your DVR. That's my point.

and Fridays and Saturdays have absolutely NOT always been bad for wrestling. WCW Saturday Night? WWF syndication also used to almost always run on weekends during the 80s and early 90s.

WCW and WWF Saturday shows used to do something similar, with the strongest matches at the start, then end with Bushwacker matches, cuz I think they were also going til midnight for the east coast. We're also comparing wrestling from 30 years ago to today, things have surely changed

[Big Red Machine]

But if you know when it's on, you can just set your DVR. That's my point.

and Fridays and Saturdays have absolutely NOT always been bad for wrestling. WCW Saturday Night? WWF syndication also used to almost always run on weekends during the 80s and early 90s.

WCW and WWF Saturday shows used to do something similar, with the strongest matches at the start, then end with Bushwacker matches, cuz I think they were also going til midnight for the east coast. We're also comparing wrestling from 30 years ago to today, things have surely changed

Saturday Night's Main Event used to put Hogan on at midnight (half an hour in) and then go down from there.
Neither WWF or WCW syndicated shows were anywhere near midnight.

You're not wrong that 30 years ago thing weren't the same, but weekends have always been weekends.



Anyone know how Smackdown did Friday nights on UPN?