AEW Dynamite Sees Big Drop In Viewership This Week, WWE NXT Viewership Up

Week 68 of the Wednesday Night War saw AEW Dynamite defeat WWE NXT in viewership and ratings.

Wednesday's Dynamite drew 734,000 viewers (-14% from last week) on TNT, topping the 720,000 viewers (+9.3%) garnered by the live NXT episode on the USA Network by 1.9%, according to Nielsen via Showbuzz Daily.

AEW ranked #6 in the Cable Top 150 for the 18-49 demo, while NXT ranked #24. AEW ranked #64 in total viewership, while NXT ranked #67 in viewership.

Last week's Dynamite show drew 854,000 viewers and ranked #33 in the Cable Top 150, and #64 in viewership. Last week's NXT show drew 659,000 viewers and ranked #67 in the Cable Top 150, and #73 in viewership.

AEW drew a 0.29 rating (-19.44% from last week) in the 18-49 demographic, topping the 0.21 (+40%) garnered by NXT in the same demo this week by 38%. Last week's AEW show drew a 0.36 rating while the NXT episode drew a 0.15 in that demographic.

This is AEW's lowest audience and 18-49 demographic rating since the Thanksgiving episode, which drew 710,000 viewers with a 0.26 rating, with the exception of the January 6 show, which was affected by coverage of the U.S. Capitol riot in Washington, DC. This was NXT's best viewership since the December 16 episode, which drew 766,000 viewers with a 0.19 rating, and their best 18-49 rating since the October 28 show, which drew 876,000 viewers with a 0.25 rating.

AEW viewership was down 11.4% from the same week in 2020, while NXT viewership was up 1.2% from the same week in 2020.

The NBA game between the Lakers and the 76ers on ESPN topped the night in the 18-49 demographic on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.65 rating, drawing just 1.775 million viewers. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show topped the night in viewership with 3.742 million viewers, ranking #5 on the Cable Top 150 with a 0.32 rating in the key demo.

Chicago Med on NBC topped the night on network TV in viewership with an average of 7.204 million viewers. Chicago Fire on NBC took the #1 spot in the 18-49 demographic with a 0.93 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:

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:

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