Eric Bischoff Shoots On AEW Ratings
"I don't know how you can look at those numbers and not be concerned."
Ratings for AEW's embryonic Dynamite began beyond all reasonable expectations, hitting an astonishing 1.4 million viewers for its debut show. However, things have calmed down a little since then, and the audience has seemingly settled into an average of around 800,000 weekly watchers.
Speaking in a recent episode of Wrestling Inc.'s WINCLY podcast, former WCW honcho and recent SmackDown failure Eric Bischoff considered the decline in AEW's viewership - and what it means for the company going forwards.
"[AEW's talent is] very popular on the indie scene and strong on social media, but I underestimated that substantially when they came in at 1.4 million on their premiere episode. AEW has far exceeded my expectations and I'm glad to be able to say that," said Bischoff.
However, he went on to say the ratings decline since that electric opener should be a cause for concern in Camp Khan:
"I don't mean this to be critical, but if you look at NXT and AEW, both of those shows are delivering numbers that were embarrassing to TNA a couple of years ago. I don't know how you can look at those numbers and not be concerned. In the TV industry, if you're not building your audience, you're killing your audience. You're either growing or dying."
Despite the short term worries, Bischoff is confident AEW will succeed if it stays focused on the bigger picture. He also said he believes AEW's product beats NXT "hands down".
You can listen to the full interview here.