The women’s key demo decreases despite AEW women’s main event

The ratings and viewership data are in for last night’s (Mar. 16) episode of AEW Dynamite.

Per Showbuzz Daily, Dynamite netted 993,000 viewers for a 0.38 rating point in the 18-49 year old demographic. The show finished sixth place in the demo rating on cable for the night.

The total viewers are up from last week’s 945,000 viewers, but the demo rating was down compared to last week’s 0.40 and first place ranking.

This episode of Dynamite was headlined by Thunder Rosa defeating Britt Baker in a steel cage match to win the AEW women’s world championship. Earlier in the night, Chris Jericho ushered in AEW’s era of the sports entertainer. The end result is an overall audience approaching one million viewers, which is a number that now eludes Dynamite more often than not.

F4WOnline provides the following interesting tidbit about the drop in the demo rating compared to last week’s show:

“The key to the 18-49 drop was actually with women, which had been way up last week. This week, women 18-49 dropped by 17.9 percent to a 0.23 rating. Females 12-34 were the only other category that dropped.

The biggest increase was with males 12-34, which climbed by 19.1 percent to a 0.25 rating. People over 50 were also up 15.2 percent.”

Are bloody brawls with thumbtacks and weapons less appealing to women? Does Jericho’s sports entertainment faction bring in more older viewers? Is this just random variation? Will CM Punk help all of these numbers increase when he returns to Dynamite?

Let us know what you think in the comments below, Cagesiders.

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

• Mar. 17, 2021: 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
• Sept. 8: 1,319,000 / .52
• Sept. 15: 1,175,000 / .44
• Sept. 22: 1,273,000 / .48
• Sept. 29: 1,152,000 / .45
• Oct. 6: 1,053,000 / .37
• Oct. 16: 727,000 / .28
• Oct. 23: 575,000 / .22
• Oct. 27: 941,000 / .40
• Nov. 3: 878,000 / .33
• Nov. 10: 913,000 / .35
• Nov. 17: 984,000 / .37
• Nov. 24: 898,000 / .31
• Dec. 1: 861,000 / .31
• Dec. 8: 872,000 / .33
• 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

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.