AEW Dynamite’s viewership on June 19 hit a record low for the company. Fightful Select reached out to multiple sources within AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for their insights.
According to Programming Insider, the June 19 episode of AEW Dynamite attracted 502,000 viewers, a sharp decline from the 681,000 viewers on June 12. This marks the lowest viewership for a non-preempted episode in the show’s history.
AEW sources attributed the low numbers to the lead-in program. Typically, “The Big Bang Theory” serves as the lead-in, drawing 200,000-250,000 viewers in the key demo during its final quarter hour. However, this week, “Black Panther” was the lead-in, pulling in fewer than 85,000 viewers in the same demo, a significant decrease. They believe the missing viewers were those who usually tune in due to the lead-in.
Despite the drop, AEW officials noted that the actual “tune-in” number was strong given the weaker lead-in.
AEW talent expressed their surprise at the low viewership.
A WBD representative mentioned that this week was unusual due to several factors: the Juneteenth holiday mid-week, competition from Olympic trials and the College Baseball World Series, and good weather across much of the country leading to more people being outdoors. They advised not to overreact to a single week’s ratings, expecting the numbers to improve next week.
Another source from WBD stated that this drop does not impact the potential for a new AEW-WBD deal.
Neither AEW nor WBD sources mentioned the Kendrick Lamar concert broadcast on Wednesday, though online reactions suggest it might have contributed to the low viewership.
