Matt Hardy helps Impact to its second biggest audience of the AEW era

Last night (Jan. 26), 186,000 people watched Impact on AXS.

That number has ebbed and flowed a bit since AEW World champion Kenny Omega’s first appearance on the show back on Dec. 8, but this week’s audience was the biggest it’s been since that episode seven weeks ago. It seems raising the stakes by putting the Matt Hardy-led Private Party in the Tag title scene has rekindled some interest.

It’s only 20K more than the last episode before AEW started having a presence on Tuesday nights, however. And the rating in the 18 -49 year old demographic this week was a .05 - the same as it was on Dec. 1.

The numbers since Dec. 8 don’t show a definitive upswing for Impact as a result of the partnership, but it’s hard to tell with two “Best of” shows in the middle of the run. Here’s what each episode of Impact has done since Tony Khan started generously supporting them with paid ads...

Dec. 8: 221,000 viewers and a .08 rating in the 18-49 demo
Dec. 15: 177,000 and a .04
Dec. 22 (Best of 2020, pt. 1): 133,000 and a .03
Dec. 29 (Best of 2020, pt. 2): 103,000 and a .01
Jan. 5: 148,000 and a .04
Jan. 12 (Hard to Kill go home): 161,000 and a .05
Jan. 19 (Hard to Kill fallout): 147,000 and .03
Jan. 26: 186,000 and a .05

Can they keep the momentum going? Is the draw (not to be confused with Sami Callihan) dependent on the angle or who comes over from Dynamite?

We’ll keep an eye on it and let you know.