Will the NHL actually draw more ratings than AEW on TNT?

[The Rick Jericho]

Now that hockey is starting and AEW will no longer be on TNT on Wednesday's. Do you think this was the right choice?

Are there actually more hockey fans than wrestling fans? Will this move pay off for TNT or is this going to backfire on them for years to come?

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I don’t know what AEW’s numbers are, but hockey will likely get a couple million views.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Honestly hard to say. ESPN opening night didn't draw a Million. But its also going against MLB playoffs which MLB is more popular than Hockey is.

[sfvega]

Oct 13, 2021 20:46:56 GMT -5 Can you afford to pay me, Gah said:

Honestly hard to say. ESPN opening night didn't draw a Million. But its also going against MLB playoffs which MLB is more popular than Hockey is.

Yeah, week-to-week it's hard to say either way. NHL did different numbers on NBCSN (admittedly weak station) and on NBC, and TNT is somewhere in the middle. I think what tilts the scales for TNT is the growth potential. AEW is gonna do good ratings, but they're going to settle in at a good number and stay around there. TNT pays for the rights to Stanley Cup games, which can garner anywhere from 2 mil to 8 mil viewers. AEW has yet to hit 2, and will likely never hit 8. And that was without the TNT and ESPN machine trying to make hockey more relevant again. AEW probably does around or better than Wednesday Night Rivalry week-to-week.

Hockey likely garners better advertising dollars as well.

[Muskrat]

They did .54 and .46 in 18-49 last night against baseball playoffs. But that was ESPN, not TNT. Tonight the have f*** all for sports competition, so it really could go either way.

[jimmyjames]

It's not just viewership numbers but the type of ads and the amount you get for them. Also people watch sports live whereas with wrestling you can have a lot of people DVRing it and channels always prefer live viewership.

[mattyy]

I'd imagine the NHL, which is why Dynamite is moving to TBS.

[greyfmdan]

I’m gonna say AEW. Sports draw on cable—as does upper-tier wrestling—but hockey tends to be at the bottom of the pack ratings-wise, at least in the States. And certainly ESPN and TNT give it better potential for ratings than NBCSN did. But outside playoff time, I don’t see it out-rating AEW, TBH.

Now as far as which is a better advertising draw, that’s another matter entirely.

[Cyno]

Even if the regular season games don't, especially if TNT's national game slate is like NBCSN's because Gary Bettman thinks only six or seven teams are worthy of national games, the playoff games certainly will. Legit sports also draw higher ad rates than wrestling, so the ratings could be worse, but they'll still make more money from the increased ad revenue.

[Bang Bang Bart]

For those wondering:

Game 1 (Rangers/Caps) drew 822k

Game 2 (Avs/Chicago) drew 512k

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Oct 14, 2021 16:07:24 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

For those wondering:

Game 1 (Rangers/Caps) drew 822k

Game 2 (Avs/Chicago) drew 512k

So even with Dynamite dealing with a downtime in dealing with Playoff Baseball... they still outdrew Hockey in Views and Demo. That's very impressive. Especially since the NHL wasn't dealing with the Playoff viewership AEW was last Wednesday.

Rampage up against the same MLB competition outdid the second hockey game which I think is even more telling. 

[Dub H]

there is also the fact that in average, NHL viewers have more money/spend more money than wrestling viewers, so even if it in theory NHL draws less,its a little more complex .

Basically companies would spend more with ads for Hockey than wrestling

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Oct 14, 2021 16:37:21 GMT -5 Dub H said:

there is also the fact that in average, NHL viewers have more money/spend more money than wrestling viewers, so even if it in theory NHL draws less,its a little more complex .

Basically companies would spend more with ads for Hockey than wrestling

Which is why Tony publicly talked about AEW viewers being more wealthy on average than WWE viewers. You want your product to generate as much revenue as possible.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Oct 14, 2021 16:37:21 GMT -5 Dub H said:

there is also the fact that in average, NHL viewers have more money/spend more money than wrestling viewers, so even if it in theory NHL draws less,its a little more complex .

Basically companies would spend more with ads for Hockey than wrestling

Like TNA on Destination America, it was the number 2 show I believe ratings wise, but nobody wanted to advertise during it. They couldn't sell the ad space for as much as they could other shows.

Let's take a look at hockey cards compared to wrestling cards, hockey cards cost more and are more valuable. There's more money with the NHL than with any wrestling company right now.