AEW programming continues to perform strongly in the 18 to 49 demographic, often ranking in the top five for cable on any given night, only trailing major sporting events.
Despite some drops in overall viewership, this key demographic strength is significant as AEW negotiates a new media rights deal with Warner Bros Discovery, set to expire at the end of 2024.
Appearing on Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW President Tony Khan provided insights into the ongoing negotiations and the company’s TV ratings:
“The most important key point is, for us, we’ve had historically strong numbers and maintained strong numbers in TV. That is the thing we need to do. Keep doing what we’re doing because the numbers that we have are numbers people at TV would kill to have.
I really need to focus on doing good shows for AEW, not about what the competition is doing. In this case, our competitor (WWE) going out ahead of us and getting good media rights deals was a positive for us and is good for us because we have good historical comps. These comps are favorable for us.
I’ve done a ton of market research, retained top analysts and data scientists. Most TV shows would kill for our ratings and demos. In sports, we skew really young. It’s important to focus on that.
I think it’s going to be a really good summer for us. We had really good growth through last summer too. Getting back to the best of what AEW does is important to me and historically, we’ve done a lot of that in the summer.”
Khan has previously stated that AEW is poised for a substantial media rights renewal, underscoring the confidence in the company’s performance and future prospects.
With a focus on maintaining their strong TV numbers and delivering quality programming, All Elite Wrestling aims to secure a favorable deal that will continue to support its growth and success in the wrestling industry.
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