For the second week in a row, AEW Collision aired against a WWE premium live event, although with a one-hour head start this past weekend.
The October 7 episode of Collision from Salt Lake City averaged 353,000 viewers and 120,000 (0.09) in the 18-49 demographic, per Sports TV Ratings & Wrestlenomics.
The most noteworthy information was that going an hour earlier actually hurt the show’s viewership as the second hour outdrew the first despite airing against WWE Fastlane.
From 7-8 p.m. ET, the show averaged 327,000 viewers and 112,000 in the demo and grew to 379,000 viewers (+16%) and 127,000 (+13%) in the second hour. The big segment was the closing fifteen minutes with Adam Copeland and Christian Cage which averaged a show-high 418,000 viewers and jumped 13% from the previous quarter. In the 18-49 demo, the top segment was the opening quarter with FTR vs. Ricky Starks & Big Bill with 135,000 viewers, per Wrestlenomics.
The major sports competition included Notre Dame vs. Louisville (5,122,000 viewers and 1.18 in the demo) on ABC, Game 1 between the Phillies and Braves (3,313,000 and 0.87) on TBS, and a college game between Kentucky and Georgia (3,192,000 and 0.84) on ESPN.
It was the second lowest audience in the show’s history but did experience an 8% increase in viewership from last week’s show airing against NXT No Mercy.
In the 18-49 demographic, the show was up by 13% from the previous episode including a male increase of 61,000 to 74,000 viewers this week.
The show averaged 60,000 viewers in the 18-34 demographic, which was up 40% from last week.
Adults 35-49 dropped by 6% to 59,000 viewers.
Collision will not air head-to-head with another WWE PLE until the Survivor Series on November 25 followed by NXT Deadline on December 9.
