Friday night at 10 p.m. Eastern is never going to be a great time slot, so everyone was bracing for bad numbers when TNT moved AEW Dynamite there for the first of what looks like several weeks worth of episodes. And the May 28 ratings and viewership were bad - the worst in the history of the show.
Wrestling Observer reports the audience for the go home show was 526,000. That’s 36% lower than the Weds., May 19 show, and almost 100K fewer viewers than Dynamite’s previous historic worst viewership back in June of last year when NXT beat them with a Keith Lee/Johnny Gargano/Finn Bálor Triple Threat.
The 18 - 49 year old demographic rating was a .20, also hit a new low. The previous worst was a .22 for that June 24, 2020 show.
Everyone knew these numbers were going to suck, and early reports are the Friday show didn’t hurt PPV sales for Double or Nothing, so there’s probably not too much wringing of hands in Jacksonville today.
There could be some concern about how well Rampage will do in this slot come August, but that show won’t be facing competition from the NBA and NHL playoffs, or fall at the start of a three-day weekend.
And if Rampage can hit these numbers, it’s not like TNT had anything doing better than a half million viewers and a demo number that would easily place in the top 20 among cable originals on an average Friday night.
Here’s a breakdown of AEW viewership and rating in the 18-49 demo over the last year:
- May 20: 701,000 / .26
- May 27: 827,000 / .32
- June 3: 730,000 / .29
- June 10: 677,000 / .23
- June 17: 772,000 / .28
- June 24: 633,000 / .22
- July 1: 748,000 / .29
- July 8: 715,000 / .28
- July 15: 788,000 / .29
- July 22: 845,000 / .32
- July 29: 773,000 / .30
- Aug. 5: 901,000 / .36
- Aug. 12: 792,000 / .32
- Aug. 22: 755,000 / .31
- Aug. 27: 813,000 / .29
- Sept. 2: 928,000 / .36
- Sept. 9: 1.02 million / .37
- Sept. 16: 886,000 / .34
- Sept. 23: 835,000 / .32
- Sept. 30: 866,000 / .33
- Oct. 7: 753,000 / .31
- Oct. 14: 826,000 / .30
- Oct. 21: 753,000 / .30
- Oct. 28: 781,000 / .32
- Nov. 4: 717,000 / .30
- Nov. 11: 764,000 /.30
- Nov. 18: 850,000 / .37
- Nov. 25: 710,000 / .26
- Dec. 2: 913,000 / .42
- Dec. 9: 995,000 / .45
- Dec. 16: 806,000 / .32
- Dec. 23: 775,000 / .32
- Dec. 30: 977,000 / .40
- Jan. 6: 662,000 / .25
- Jan. 13: 762,000 / .30
- Jan. 20: 854,000 / .36
- Jan. 27: 734,000 / .29
- Feb. 3: 844,000 / .32
- Feb. 10: 741,000 / .29
- Feb. 17: 747,000 / .31
- Feb. 24: 831,000 / .35
- Mar. 3: 934,000 / .33
- Mar. 10: 743,000 / .32
- Mar. 17: 768,000 / .28
- Mar. 24: 757,000 / .30
- Mar. 31: 700,000 / .26
- Apr. 7: 688,000 / .28
- Apr. 14: 1,219,000 / .44
- Apr. 21: 1,104,000 / .37
- Apr. 28: 889,000 / .33
- May 5: 1,090,000 / .42
- May 12: 936,000 / .31
- May 19: 821,000 / .28
- May 28: 526,000 / .20
For complete results and this week’s Dynamite live blog click here. To read a recap & review of the night’s events click here. For a playlist of the show click here.