AEW Dynamite’s viewership goes down despite barbed wire shark cage gimmick

The ratings and viewership data are in for last night’s (July 20) episode of AEW Dynamite.

Per Showbuzz Daily, Dynamite netted 910,000 viewers for a 0.32 rating point in the 18-49 year old demographic. Dynamite finished first place in the demo rating on cable for the night.

Dynamite’s overall audience was down compared to last week’s 942,000 viewers, whereas the demo rating remained unchanged.

The main event of this week’s episode was the Shark Week tie-in Barbed Wire Everywhere Deathmatch between Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston. Dynamite did finish first place in the key demo, so this is not a bad overall result for AEW. However, the viewership decrease is disappointing for a gimmick match with such hype behind it. Note that one year ago at this time AEW Dynamite was pulling 1,148,000 viewers and a 0.44 demo rating on the TNT network.

Next week’s Fight for the Fallen episode of Dynamite has an AEW women’s world title match (Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita) and an FTW title match (Ricky Starks vs. Danhausen) announced. Neither bout seems like the main event; it’s unlike Tony Khan to not have the main event announced at this point.

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

• July 21, 2021: 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
• 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

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.