Warner Bros Discovery Reacts To Low AEW Dynamite Ratings

The AEW Dynamite viewership numbers were low on a show featuring Tony Khan getting beat up, so what did WBD Executives think about it?

In the main event segment of AEW Dynamite in Jacksonville, The Elite group comprised of Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada, Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matthew & Nicholas Jackson) and their friend Jack Perry teamed up to assault AEW Owner/GM/CEO Tony Khan.

After Perry punched Khan in the ribs with a microphone, The Young Bucks hit their TK Driver (formerly known as a Meltzer Driver) move which is a spiked piledriver.

When the ratings came out, they were not good. In fact, it was the lowest audience for Dynamite since January 6, 2021, which was the day of the US Capitol riots that led to people watching the news a lot. Dynamite averaged 683,000 viewers on TBS, which was down 10.4% from last week. The 18-49 demo was also low with a 0.23 rating, which was down 11.5% from last week.

Part of the reason that the audience was down is because the episode aired live on the West Coast (outside of prime time), so that’s not normal for the west coast fans. They also faced tough competition from the NBA and NHL Playoffs along with other television shows.

Warner Bros Discovery is the parent company that owns the TBS & TNT Networks that show AEW programming. It was reported by PWInsider that a WBD source said they were “really happy” with the Dynamite ratings.

What Else Did WBD Think About AEW Dynamite Ratings?

The PWInsider report continued by noting that AEW faced strong competition on Wednesday night, yet they still finished sixth that evening on basic cable. Plus, the NBA coverage that drew better that night were games that were on TNT, which means they were “in the same family” with WBD. When removing those NBA games, only ESPN’s NHL games topped AEW in the 18-49 demo.

There was also the point made about the West Coast feed not airing at 8 PM Pacific time due to the NBA Playoffs on TNT. There were also audio issues at the TBS uplink that were not on AEW’s end.

Lastly, WBD also expects the numbers to be better when they factor in the +3 and +7 viewings via DVRs and other viewing methods.

All Elite Wrestling programming has aired on WBD channels TNT & TBS for nearly five years featuring Dynamite, Rampage and Collision. The TV deal is set to expire later this year although AEW boss Tony Khan has shown confidence that a new deal will be made.