There’s good news and bad news in Dynamite’s ratings drop

The ratings and viewership data are in for last night’s (Sept. 1) episode of AEW Dynamite.

Per ShowBuzzDaily, Dynamite netted 1,047,000 viewers for a 0.37 rating point in the 18-49 demographic. The numbers are a noticeable drop from last week’s results of 1,172,000 and 0.48 in these respective metrics.

The good news for AEW is that Dynamite ranked in 1st place on cable in the demo rating last night, and landing over one million viewers has always been a celebrated feat for them. It’s especially impressive to reach that number on a night when proven needle-mover The Blade did not wrestle.

The bad news is that these numbers for the All Out go-home show are a bit under the standard that AEW set for itself since the return of live fans beginning in July. This was the 9th episode of Dynamite in that time. Last night’s total viewership ranks 5th highest out of the nine shows, and the demo rating ranks 6th best out of the nine shows.

Reaching one million viewers for AEW was a big deal when they went head-to-head with NXT. But expectations are higher now that All Elite has Wednesday nights to itself, especially with CM Punk on board. Tony Khan said AEW entered a new era with the signing of Punk, and he hopes the move will bring back many lapsed fans. Perhaps some of those lapsed fans who came back for Punk checked out the rest of Dynamite’s so-so card last week and decided they didn’t need to watch the show live this week.

Here’s a breakdown of AEW viewership and rating in the 18-49 demo over the last year:

• Sept. 2, 2020: 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, 2021: 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
• June 4: 462,000 / .19
• June 11: 487,000 / .19
• June 18: 551,000 / .20
• June 26: 649,000 / .21
• June 30: 883,000 / .35
• July 7: 871,000 / .33
• July 14: 1,025,000 / .40
• July 21: 1,148,000 / .44
• July 28: 1,108,000 / .45
• Aug. 4: 1,102,000 / .46
• Aug. 11: 979,000 / .35
• Aug. 18: 975,000 / .35
• Aug. 25: 1,172,000 / .48
• Sept. 1: 1,047,000 / .37

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 video highlights of the show click here.