The people who think AEW is dying don’t have a clue

The ratings and viewership data are in for last night’s (Dec. 14) episode of AEW Dynamite.

Per Showbuzz Daily, Dynamite netted 950,000 viewers for a 0.33 rating point in the 18-49 year old demographic. Dynamite finished third place in the demo rating on cable for the night, trailing only basketball programming.

AEW Dynamite’s numbers finally broke out of a recent slump, with the demo rating jumping up from last week’s 0.29, and the average viewership approaching striking distance of the round number of one million viewers.

Numbers were expected to rise given this week’s Winter is Coming special episode, and that’s exactly what happened. The boost in numbers might also lend some credence to the claim that last week’s disappointing results were at least somewhat affected by a Spectrum cable issue with the Turner networks.

There are plenty of fair criticisms to throw around at AEW’s product over the last few months, but some folks who are blinded by tribalism and/or ignorance have taken every opportunity during this time to make it sound like AEW is on death’s door and its content is comparable to the dreck that is WCW 2000. This level of hyperbole has always been nonsense.

AEW still has some work to do to improve ticket sales, get Dynamite firing on all cylinders, and figure out what the hell it’s doing with ROH and Rampage, but this week’s numbers serve as a reminder that the company is doing just fine in the big picture.

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

• Dec. 15: 948,000 / .31
• Dec. 22: 1,020,000 / .37
• Dec. 29: 975,000 / .37
• Jan. 5, 2022: 1,010,000 / .43
• Jan. 12: 969,000 / .39
• Jan. 19: 1,032,000 / .44
• Jan. 26: 1,100,000 / .41
• Feb. 2: 954,000 / .35
• Feb. 9: 1,129,000 / .41
• Feb. 16: 869,000 / .31
• Feb. 23: 1,010,000 / .40
• Mar. 2: 966,000 / .35
• Mar. 9: 945,000 / .40
• Mar. 16: 993,000 / .38
• Mar. 23: 1,046,000 / .41
• Mar. 30: 979,000 / .38
• Apr. 6: 989,000 / .38
• Apr. 13: 977,000 / .37
• Apr. 20: 930,000 / .37
• Apr. 27: 921,000 / .33
• May 4: 833,000 / .32
• May 11: 840,000 / .33
• May 18: 922,000 / .33
• May 25: 929,000 / .35
• June 1: 969,000 / .40
• June 8: 939,000 / .34
• June 15: 761,000 / .28
• June 22: 878,000 / .31
• June 29: 1,023,000 / .36
• July 6: 979,000 / .36
• July 13: 942,000 / .32
• July 20: 910,000 / .32
• July 27: 976,000 / .33
• Aug. 3: 938,000 / .32
• Aug. 10: 972,000 / .33
• Aug. 17: 957,000 / .30
• Aug. 24: 1,049,000 / .34
• Aug. 31: 1,020,000 / .35
• Sept. 7: 1,035,000 / .38
• Sept. 14: 1,175,000 / .39
• Sept. 21: 1,039,000 / .35
• Sept. 28: 990,000 / .34
• Oct. 5: 1,038,000 / .33
• Oct. 12: 983,000 / .32
• Oct. 18: 752,000 / .26
• Oct. 26: 997,000 / .32
• Nov. 2: 911,000 / .29
• Nov. 9: 930,000 / .32
• Nov. 16: 818,000 / .28
• Nov. 23: 880,000 / .32
• Nov. 30: 870,000 / .26
• Dec. 7: 840,000 / .29
• Dec. 14: 950,000 / .33

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.