AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes has posted some impressive statistics from the company’s UK television viewership one year on from the show’s premiere.
The data even draws comparison between AEW Dynamite and RAW, SmackDown, NXT and IMPACT’s viewership figures in the UK.
While no numerical data has been shared, and television ratings in the UK aren’t as freely available in the UK, Cody Rhodes took to Twitter today to share some details of the Dynamite viewership one year in.
The post reveals how AEW is beating the “first-run broadcast” of all its competitors in the UK in terms of audience volume. It’s then clarified that Dynamite, in the UK, reaches over five times as many people as NXT does, and twice as much as SmackDown – while almost boasting a similar stat for RAW.
AEW do list two figures on their promotional release – stating that, based on over five minutes of consecutive viewing, full episodes have reached 2.8 million people. Meanwhile, overall, the programming has reached 6.7 million people, based on the same criteria.
This is some really positive/staggering data & research about our friends across the pond!@ITV / @AEW 🇬🇧🇺🇸
Thanks to our incredible fans for such a successful first year of #AEWDynamite
(we can’t wait to take the team over and wrestle there) pic.twitter.com/t7mnrVk7XX
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) October 18, 2020
Interestingly, IMPACT Wrestling seems to be drawing a similar figure as WWE RAW does. AEW Dynamite and IMPACT’s weekly offering were airing in the same slot on a free-to-air channel. IMPACT’s first run, though, now airs on a Wednesday, 24 hours after the live broadcast in the US.
It’s important to note that these figures are for first-run broadcasts, and AEW clarify in the post that the company benefits from being able to reach more people as part of their ITV deal than WWE. While WWE is available on Channel 5, which is free-to-air, the first-run is via BT Sport – which requires a subscription.
That being said, it would also be worth noting that BT Sport’s first run of RAW, SmackDown and NXT is live, the first run of AEW Dynamite is not. The show is available live to UK viewers via Fite TV via subscription, and that viewership would not be reflected in the below figures.
In the UK, AEW airs via ITV on Friday nights. UK fans who wish to watch the show live would be able to via Fite TV for $5 a month. Meanwhile, NXT airs live via BT Sport on Wednesdays at 1am UK time – as does RAW on a Monday and SmackDown on a Friday. WWE air one-hour highlights on Channel 5 at the weekends, in the morning, one week removed from the first run broadcast.