AEW lost the overall viewership to WWE but has won the head-to-head key demo.
This past Friday night (Oct. 15), AEW ran its Rampage show while WWE delivered SmackDown. Things were a bit different this time. SmackDown was running on FOX Sports 1 due to a scheduling conflict with MLB. WWE also extended SmackDown to two and a half hours, competing with the first half-hour of AEW TV.
AEW Rampage vs. WWE SmackDown: Inside The Numbers
People were quick to jump on the “leaked” fast nationals as SmackDown had a clear edge over Rampage. That didn’t tell the full story, however. The final Nielsen numbers have been revealed (via Showbuzz Daily).
Overall, SmackDown had 866,000 viewers compared to Rampage’s 578,000 viewers. Both shows took in a 0.24 rating in the 18-49 key demo. During the head-to-head half-hour, it was AEW that won the key demo with 328,000 viewers compared to 285,000 for WWE.
Tony Khan took to his Twitter account to remind Darren Rovell that he failed to get the full scoop.
“Here’s a story nobody leaked to you over the weekend but I’ll give you rn, dog: AEW got a big victory over WWE after WWE aggressively extended their Friday show 30 minutes & loaded it up head-to-head 10-10:30pm vs AEW Rampage, with AEW Rampage winning 328k to 285k (+15% margin).”
When taking a look at how the overall numbers panned out during that half-hour, SmackDown took in 878,000 total viewers, while AEW had 602,000 viewers.
SmackDown ran the final half-hour with no commercials. The show closed with a contract signing featuring Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and Paul Heyman. Rampage’s opener featuring CM Punk vs. Matt Sydal was also commercial-free.
We haven’t seen the last of AEW and WWE going head-to-head in some capacity. WWE will be airing Talking Smack live on FOX Sports 1 on Oct. 29. That’ll be going up against Rampage.
