WBD "Really Happy" With 4/24 AEW Dynamite Despite Significant Viewership Drop

:aew:

The ratings slump for the April 24, episode of Dynamite was not a concern for AEW's broadcast partners at Warner Bros. Discovery who were happy with the show.

The show saw 683,000 homes tune in for the post-Dynasty edition of Dynamite, a 10% decrease from the previous week. This is the lowest average audience an episode of AEW Dynamite has earned since the January 6, 2021 episode of the show, excluding episodes that were pre-empted.

Despite this concerning drop, WBD sources were "really happy" with the show's performance, PW Insider reports. A source in WBD noted that AEW had significant competition on the night due to the NBA and NHL Playoffs. Despite this competition, AEW was still sixth for the evening on basic cable.

Three of the shows that hit AEW hard on April 24 were made up of NBA coverage on TNT which is considered in the "family" by WBD. When excluding those shows, only ESPN's coverage of the NHL scored higher in the 18-49 demo for the evening. The source also acknowledged audio issues from TBS' end of things that impacted the show.

AEW Dynamite may have seen a serious drop, but there were plenty of factors outside of the promotion's control for this. The test now will be whether AEW can recover those fans in the coming weeks. Tony Khan's inaugural promotion has seen a drop in viewers compared to previous years, and the AEW President, who'll be working remotely following Jack Perry's attack, will need to explore his options to win back fans.