
This past week, Netflix released its first set of global viewership data covering WWE’s first week on the streaming service.
Beginning on January 6, all WWE programming in Canada shifted to Netflix beginning with Raw at the Intuit Dome and continuing with New Year’s Evil and Friday Night SmackDown. Next month, the Royal Rumble will be the first premium live event to stream on Netflix in Canada.
In Netflix’s chart for the Top 10 Shows in Canada, WWE Raw ranked sixth behind Jerry Springer: Lights, Camera, Action; Squid Game: Season 2, Missing You, American Primeval, and The Breakthrough.
Neither NXT New Year’s Evil nor SmackDown ranked among the top ten and Netflix doesn’t disclose any viewership data beyond the ranking.
The January 6 episode of WWE Raw ranked #5 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K., #6 in Mexico, #6 in Saudi Arabia, and #8 in Australia.
AEW COLLISION HOLDS STEADY IN WEEK TWO
AEW Collision continued to garner a lot of traction on the recently rebranded USA Network (formerly Discovery). The second episode to air on the network averaged 69,000 viewers and 48,000 in the 25-54 demographic and is a heavy high percentage falling into the main demographic that is monitored.
One caveat to note is that the USA Network launched a free preview in Canada on January 1 to coincide with the rebranding and runs until February 28.
Collision has shown its ability to garner an audience on a difficult night in the country where it opposes NHL hockey (mainly a Toronto Maple Leafs game). It is something UFC has struggled with airing on Sportsnet 360.
This past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card from the Apex averaged 19,000 viewers and 3,000 in the 25-54 demographic for the main card, and 25,000 and 3,000 respectively for the prelims.
The first UFC card of the year featured a main event where Mackenzie Dern submitted Amanda Ribas in the third round of their strawweight fight.
Meanwhile, the Maximum Carnage edition of AEW Dynamite attracted the show’s largest audience since November with 89,500 viewers and 44,600 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN 2 this past Wednesday. While outdrawing Collision in overall viewership, the Saturday night program edged out Dynamite in the demographic audience.
Although it’s only a two-week sample, Dynamite and Collision are on a much more even footing in Canada than their audience differential in the U.S.
IMPACT STAYS FLAT IN THIRD WEEK ON NEW HOME
Week 3 of Impact Wrestling airing on Sportsnet 360 saw the episode average 25,000 viewers and 7,000 in the 25-54 demographic for the go-home episode before Genesis this Sunday. Last week’s episode averaged 19,000 and 7,000 respectively.
The episode aired hours after the announcement of TNA’s new multi-year partnership with WWE and was the show’s latest episode taped at the Center Stage in Atlanta last month.
It included a main event with The Hardys beating Sami Callihan & PCO with implications on the tag title match at Genesis and a closing segment with Nic Nemeth and Joe Hendry.
Next week, Impact Wrestling presents a rare live edition of the show from San Antonio, Texas following the pay-per-view.
COMING UP
Next week, we will get the Netflix charts for this past Monday’s edition of Raw and see what level of follow-up is shown after the much-publicized debut compared to a more normalized version.
Saturday’s AEW Collision features a big lineup including the 12-man tag, Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii, and a Texas Death Match. It will air against the UFC 311 prelims on Sportsnet 360, which are headlined by Payton Talbott against Raoni Barcelos but the pay-per-view prelims usually always perform above the Fight Night level cards.
Impact Wrestling airs live this Thursday and has the benefit of coming off a pay-per-view and the potential of having WWE integration for next week’s program.