By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite television show averaged 852,000 viewers for TBS, according to Showbuzzdaily.com. The viewership count was down from the 858,000 viewership total from last week’s show.
Powell’s POV: AEW had added competition from the NCAA basketball tournament and the World Baseball Classic. Dynamite finished 11th in the 18-49 demo in Wednesday’s cable ratings with a 0.27 rating, down from last week’s 0.29 rating in the same demo. Monday’s WWE Raw finished with a 0.53 rating on USA Network. The March 16, 2022 edition of Dynamite on TBS delivered 993,000 viewers and a 0.38 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
None of the core AEW fanbase is watching basketball or baseball. This 850-875k range is just who will watch no matter what.
A while since I’ve been around and I’m just checking in if nothing else; I have to agree though the NCAA Tourney proper wasn’t really going yet and play-in matchups between 16 seeds and 11 seeds isn’t getting widespread viewership. There were equally irrelevant NIT games on television too which also wouldn’t be enough to draw prospective meaningful viewership away.
Clearly AEW is treading water with the current range and I can see why; as I have not been watching and paying little attention to wrestling over the last several months you really hear absolute zero about it or are aware of nothing in relation to it, unlike some other sports where whether it is being closely followed or not generally feedback will inadvertently seep in and there is that mild connection point that can still exist. So I don’t know what would need to be done in order to engage those who are currently indifferent and unconscious towards the product, but the path they are on now is not making any inroads as is shown by the stagnant viewership.