AEW Dynamite maintains 18-49 audience, grows viewership against NBA

Photo Courtesy: AEW

AEW Dynamite maintained its 18-49 audience while airing against the big NBA playoff game between Golden State and Dallas.

The May 18th edition of Dynamite from Houston averaged 922,000 viewers and approximately 430,000 (0.33) on TBS, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and Showbuzz Daily.

Despite a stronger NBA game and more competitive NHL schedule, AEW grew its overall audience by 10 percent with the 18-49 audience identical to last week’s figure.

Dynamite finished seventh among cable originals and was their highest overall viewership since April 27th.

AEW was assisted with a 10 percent gain among adults 18-34 and adults 50+ growing from 0.32 to 0.38 this week and helping with its overall viewership figure.

In the 18-49 demo, they dropped five percent among females but were up by two percent with males.

The second hour of Dynamite aired against the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks, which topped all of television with 6,518,000 viewers and 2.2 in the 18-49 demo.

After five weeks against the NBA playoffs, Dynamite is averaging 890,000 viewers and 438,000 in 18-49. The previous five episodes before the NBA playoffs began averaged 997,000 viewers and 500,000 in the key demo.

The NHL playoffs are also growing as they get further into the post-season with AEW finishing behind both games on Wednesday. The New York Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes game finished third among cable originals with 1,658,000 viewers and 0.56 in 18-49 with the game ending in overtime. The late game between Edmonton and Calgary averaged 894,000 and 0.35.

TNT and TBS occupied five of the top seven cable programs on Wednesday night between the NBA, Rich & Shameless, and Dynamite.

Wednesday’s episode was billed as “Wild Card Wednesday” with the reveal of John Hennigan and Maki Itoh as the mystery “Joker” entrants in the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament matches. The show was headlined by Adam Cole and Jeff Hardy in a separate tournament match.

In Canada, AEW Dynamite averaged approximately 77,000 viewers on TSN 2, which was almost identical to last week’s 78,000.

About John Pollock 5797 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.