Over the last month, the topic of the war between WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite has been talked about quite a bit by fans.
The last three weeks have seen NXT beat Dynamite in total viewership although Dynamite has won the last two weeks in the all-important 18-49 demographic.
AEW President & CEO Tony Khan actually took to social media last Thursday to address the viewership topic and point out what TNT and the promotion want out of the ratings, which is the 18-49 demographic.
Khan recently spoke with Joseph Staszewski of The New York Post where he detailed AEW’s success in the war for viewership.
“Within 48 hours I speak to all the top executives at TNT every week after the show and we generally are gauging it based on the 18-49 performance and it’s been like that since before we started,” Khan said. “That’s what we’ve been told is the really important thing to focus on. But there are other growth factors. Obviously you want to see overall viewership, but it’s really important to build young viewers under the age of 18.”
Khan pointed out how AEW has had really great growth with the 12-18 audience who he thinks are the superfans of the future. He sees those people growing up and being big fans of the promotion. He understands that they have a loyal fan base and that they have a great audience in the demo.
He continued by stating that the last three out of the last four weeks they’ve been one of the top eight shows on cable in the 18-49 overnight demo and that’s what he is judged on.
“When we talk about performance week to week, that’s it. So when I see people saying that the overall rating, who won and lost, I’m not sure they understand how the game is actually scored, which is what I was explaining, how if nothing else how we internally gauge success and it’s not me that picked these numbers. Although I can imagine people do think that I’m conveniently picking numbers, but this is what I’ve been told is the important thing along.”
Thus, when he sees people saying that Fyter Fest wasn’t a success then he feels like he needs to point out how it was very successful. He added that he’s happy and looks to maintain being in the top seven on cable in that demo.
Khan also talked COVID-19, Sonny Kiss, Orange Cassidy, and more. Check out the full interview here.
