You could also attribute the drop in ratings this week to the fact that a lot of new seasons of shows premiered this week. I'm sure a lot of people were also turned off by the whole 1 hour on USA, one hour on the Network thing they did this and last week. Starting next week the entire show will be on USA, so then we'll really see. As I mentioned, I do think the easy accessibility of the NXT replays will factor in, and I'm sure WWE is expecting initial high ratings for AEW as a result of both this and just curiosity by the casual viewer. I feel like once both shows are on, however, WWE will be able to regain a big part of their fans, I mean, Universe, who decide to switch over the first few weeks, because a lot of the casuals are gonna look at it and not see a huge difference, especially when half of their main eventers are ex-WWE guys, so why not stick with what they already know and are familiar with? Not to mention, AEW only currently has the one show, with one brand. NXT is still seen by many as a developmental, and there has been and probably will be more crossovers in the future, so if they're already watching the WWE, they're gonna wanna tune in to NXT to see how it affects Raw and Smackdown. Whereas with AEW, the entire roster is already being featured on the only AEW show, if that makes sense
You might argue that AEW only having One show and one brand adds to the appeal, ive heard countless times about the WWE product being too long and how there is so much of it, watching it can be exhuasting for some people (there is at the very least now a total of 7 hours of wrestling, and 8 if smackdown goes to 3 hours as rumored, which is ALOT of wrestling) cobine that with AEW which like you said has one brand one show, thats 9, possibly 10 hours of wrestling a week, and thats not counting PPVs, so how people devide their time is gonna be interesting.
And absolutely i think the NXT replay on the WWE Network the day after is gonna have a HUGE effect, because it means you dont even have to choose, you can watch AEW live on wednesday then NXT the day after, your handing people a reason to not even watch NXT when they got AEW and they can watch NXT the day after, though thats also just for network subscribers, as far as TV ratings go i feel like it only makes matters worse, because majority of NXTs audience id wager are from the network, take them out of the picture and you lose a large chunk of your audience, combine that with WWE practicly helping AEW by making in advance, wednesdays a wrestling day, people now know wednesdays is the day wrestling happens, which vastly increases the likelyhood of AEW getting more viewers, its like they are shooting themselves in the foot, but are numb to the pain
WWE may gain viewers for sure, but there is just as much a chance they lsoe them, the numbers from these past 2 weeks alone are so facsinateing, if you read, in week one in the 18 to 34 range males were at 0.28 (280.000 ish) and females was at 0.20 (200.000 ish). But this week that dropped hard, only 0.20 males and 0.12 for females, meanwhile the older viewers went up from 0.47 in the 50+ to 0.48. And with AEW trying to bring back lapsed fans and possibly new younger fans, they may do great in both aspects. There are still so many factors we dont know, it can go so many different ways. And that goes for NXT aswell, people said the first week the USA hour was not good but the hour that was on the network was great, and now this week ive heard its reversed, the first hour was great but the second hour on the network wasnt good at all. When NXTs fully on USA they need to nail both hours or its gonna get bad.
Also, speaking of numbers.
I'm going to hold my tongue then.
But I agree with Jeff that the decrease in views over this one week shouldn't be a concern, as you always lose viewers after a premiere. AEW is going lose viewers in their second week. It is what it is. Let's not pay too much attention to the ratings (I know you are going to for this post, just don't think the rest of us fans should) and just enjoy the wrestling we are getting from both promotions.
Oh absolutely! even though i can posting and analyzeing the numbers as these weeks progress im certainly gonna enjoy all the wrestling that we will get, these stats are honestly mainly to keep track, i think it would be neat to have a record of this event as it happened, for however long it lasts, plus it can add to discussions and such as it is a bit! :emoji_slight_smile: