I know Smackdown won comfortably in overall viewers, but as a marketing person who loves to look at underlying numbers and build strategies based on those, I think Friday was a HUGE win for AEW. Not in the sense that they will put Vince out of business or become a bigger company then AEW, but in terms of WHO their viewership is and that, despite Vince counter-programming them, they came up on top at the end of the day in the metrics that matter most to the sustainability of their business.
Cornette said that TK was stupid for putting Danielson on YT on a show called "the Buy In" when AEW had nothing to sell. I think it was a brilliant move. AEW wanted to win the demo and putting a big star on YouTube would draw people in the demo away from Smackdown. I am not saying the impact was massive, but it was big enough to reduce Smackdown's results in the demo, earning AEW the tie.
- Rampage was a bigger world-wide trend on Twitter than Smackdown.
- Head-to-head from 10h00 to 10h30, AEW won in the demo.
- Ruby Soho vs The Bunny TIED Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns in the demo.
- AEW tied WWE in the demo for the entirety of the programs
It reinforces the fact that more young people care about AEW than they do WWE. WWE can keep winning big in older demos all they want, but their audience keep aging and they do not bring in new viewers. It is concerning. They are doing similar numbers to AEW in the demo... and WWE has been around for decades, they have a much more established brand. AEW has been around not even 3 years and they JUST got stars people outside of the wrestling bubble know. They are also the better work environment and WWE has doubled down on steroid heads and talentless bimbos. If anything, Friday shows how both companies are trending. One is trending up, the other is trending down. One draws in younger people, the other doesn't despite being a much larger brand with a more established following.
So, if I am Tony Khan, I continue doing what I am doing and I do not pay attention to WWE... unless they come for me directly like they did on Friday. The mistake Bischoff made back in the day was to be obsessed with beating Vince. Beating Vince does not matter, building a sustainable business does. AEW is slowly going that, I hope they keep doing it and do not get in a stupid war.